


Leia Skywalker: The Empire Strikes Back

by lightningbisexual



Series: Original Trilogy Twin Swap [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Anxiety Attacks, Cursing because R2 is a little shit and Leia is from a backwater planet, F/F, F/M, Idk if Star Wars has a name for PTSD but whatever Luke's got it, Jedi Leia, Luke with anxiety, M/M, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Prince Luke, Role Reversal AU, THERE IS NO INCEST, The Empire Strikes Back, Twin Swap AU, twin swap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-05
Updated: 2020-02-13
Packaged: 2020-11-01 22:48:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 61,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20533487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lightningbisexual/pseuds/lightningbisexual
Summary: A continuation of my twin swap fic. Leia Skywalker is being sought by the Dark Side and the Light, who both hope to use her power for their own agendas. However, her ferocity and anger make it difficult for her to train as a Jedi. Han Solo is also developing feelings for Prince Luke Organa and has no goddamn clue how to deal with it.





	1. Arguments and Attacks

It had been three years since Leia Skywalker blew up the Death Star. In that time, she had been on several adventures working for the Rebellion, rising up in the ranks to the position of a Lieutenant Commander. Normally a high ranking officer wouldn’t do little things like going out on patrols, but Leia was so bored here that she was more than willing to brave the hellish weather of the ice planet Hoth in order to get out of their tiny little base. 

People claimed that Tatooine was one of the worst places in the galaxy. Those people had obviously never spent more than an hour on Hoth. 

She was bundled in several layers on the back of her Tauntaun, angrily scanning the endless expanse of snow for signs of life. Growing up on a desert planet circling two suns, Leia was used to warm weather. She liked warm weather. This snow bullshit was just that: bullshit. She hated being cold all the time. It made her even snappier than usual; her pool of patience had frozen over on the first night they arrived here. 

Unfortunately, Hoth was the perfect place to hide from the Empire. They had evacuated and run so many times in the past three years, having a relatively steady home was a nice feeling. Even if it was a frozen wasteland. 

She pulled off her goggles, sighing as a shiver ran over her. The snow was even brighter without the protection, making her squint. As she glanced up, she noticed a meteor streaking in from the sky. It crashed a long ways away from her, the snow exploding where it hit. Oddly, she even spotted some smoke rising from the impact zone. Meteors were common, but few smoked like that. Maybe it was worth checking out. 

Narrowing her eyes, she pulled back her sleeve, dusting the snow off of her communicator. 

“Echo Three to Echo Seven,” she said, pulling the small device close to her mouth. “Han, you read me?”

There was a brief moment of static before Han’s voice came cracking through. He was patrolling, same as her, just placing sensors instead of taking life readings. At least they were stuck here together. Even the worst experience was better with one of her best friends around. 

“Loud and clear kid. What’s up?” 

“I finally finished my circle,” she replied. “No life readings.” 

“There isn’t enough life on this ice cube to fill a space cruiser.” Han sounded as irritated with Hoth as Leia felt. She smiled wryly. At least she could count on someone to hate this planet as much as she did. Everyone else seemed to like the cold better than the heat, which was just madness to her. “The sensors are placed, I’m going back.”

“Lucky you,” Leia said drily. “I just saw a meteorite hit nearby, I’m going to check it out.” 

The meteorite was probably the most exciting thing that had happened since coming to this wasteland, so Leia was willing to brave the cold a little longer. It was better than hiding inside the base. Sometimes that place drove her stir crazy. It was too small. Besides, she wanted adventure. She hated just hiding away in hopes of escaping the Empire. 

She clicked off her comlink, sighing. Grabbing the reins, she was about to guide the Tauntaun towards the meteorite when the creature shifted nervously under her, letting out a frightened cry. 

Leia frowned, placing a hand on the Tauntaun’s neck soothingly, trying to calm her. “What is it, girl? You smell something?” 

She began to glance around just in time to discover that yes, the Tauntaun had indeed smelled something. A giant Wampa rose over them both, its roar splitting the air. 

Leia cursed, her hands scrambling for her blaster. It was so buried under the layers of her clothes that she wasn’t able to grab it before the Wampa swung a giant clawed hand, causing hot pain to explode on her face. The blow knocked her off her Tauntaun and sent everything into darkness. 

Luke was currently working inside the command center, quietly reworking the evacuation plan with Amee Oberel, one of their young strategic officers. After living safely away from the Empire’s wrath on Hoth for almost a year, they knew that it was only a matter of time before they were found. Besides, Luke had discovered that he had a particular skill for this sort of thing. 

“We should only have two fighters per transport,” he decided, his eyes flicking over the screen. With the amount of equipment and personnel that they had, it would be the best chance for as many people as possible to escape. 

“Will that be enough protection against an imperial blockade?” Amee asked, frowning. 

“We’ll use the ion cannon to give them some cover,” he explained, pointing to what was probably the best weapon they had on base. Most times, it was a little glitchy, not always working properly, but Luke had gotten their best engineers to fix it to the best of their ability. “Each transport only needs a few minutes to get past our energy shield and jump to lightspeed. If they all take slightly different routes, they should make it out safe.”

Amee nodded. “I’ll type up the instructions and send them out by the end of the day, your highness.” 

Luke nodded in thanks, relaxing. He turned, glancing over the command room. It was quiet in here, which was nice. The only sounds were the soft beeping of their monitors and the relaxed chatter of the officers. Quiet moments like this were rare in the Rebellion. Leia thrived on chaos, did her best in the intensity of a battle, but Luke preferred moments like this. They were far less stressful. 

His eyes flocked to the door as it hissed open, but he sharply turned back to the computer when Han walked through. He tried to pretend that he was reading over the evac protocols as Amee typed them, ensuring that they were correct. It was unnecessary, she knew what she was doing, but he just wanted to avoid looking at Han right now. 

While Luke and Leia has only grown closer and closer over the past few years, his relationship with Han was constantly up and down. They would go on a mission together, and long nights on the run would often lead to a comfortable intimacy. They would talk, open up to one another, and it left Luke with butterflies in his stomach. Later, back on the base, Han would freak out and start arguments left and right, always making some kind of excuse to give him the cold shoulder. It was infuriating. Normally, Luke had very little temper to speak of. But Han Solo could set him off like no one else, which seemed to amuse everyone in the Rebellion save for the two of them. 

While his eyes were carefully fixed on the screen, he carefully listened to the conversation between Han and General Rieekan. It began with the simple debrief, almost making Luke stop listening. 

“General, I gotta leave,” Han blurted out. “I can’t stay anymore.”

Luke’s head whipped around, shock and anger briefly rising on his face before he got himself under control again, quickly trying to cool his features into the calm royal mask. Han was leaving? He hadn’t even told him! His hand tightened on the back of the officer’s chair, and he was grateful for his gloves hiding the fact that his knuckles were nearly white. 

“I’m sorry to hear that,” the general said, his voice calm and polite. 

“Well, there’s a price on my head,” Han explained. “If I don’t pay off Jabba the Hutt, I’m a dead man.” 

This time Luke practically had to choke back a scoff, turning it into a quiet cough instead. Amee glanced up at him, a knowing look crossing her face before she turned back to the screen, carefully professional. 

Han had been working with the Rebellion for years. The bounty on his head had been there the whole time, so why was he getting nervous about it now? It made no sense. A part of him wanted to go over there and interrogate Han until he got a straight answer about this, but his royal training took over. Better to hide behind a cool mask, pretend that this didn’t even affect him, than give Han the reaction he must have been looking for. 

Luckily, General Rieekan was far more professional than Luke was feeling at the moment. 

“A death mark is not an easy thing to live with,” he said, an understanding look on his face. “You’re a good fighter, Solo. I hate to lose you.” 

He offered Han a hand, and they shook. The smuggler had really learned to be respectful in the past few years. Luke had thought that it was proof of his growth, but seeing as he was running away again, it didn’t seem like Han had really grown at all. 

“Thank you, General,” he said, turning away. Luke sharply turned back to the screen before Han’s eyes found him. He studied the report, pretending to be engrossed in the words. He doubted that anyone bought it, least of all Han. Luke had the unfortunate habit of wearing his heart on his sleeve, whether he wanted to or not. 

He didn’t meet Han’s eyes as he approached, but he did turn slightly towards him. 

Han shoved his hands in his pockets, glancing up at Luke with no small amount of regret on his face. He left a safe distance between them as he spoke. 

“Well, your highness, guess this is it,” he told him, his eyes flicking down to the floor before looking at him again. 

Luke could feel the urge to snap rising up in his chest, and he definitely wasn’t about to do it in front of all these other officers. Even if everyone seemed to have their eyes on their screens, he could just feel them listening, waiting to see how he would react. Being such important and well known figures in the Rebellion, of course their frequent arguments were the interest of the bored officers stuck on a desolate ice planet. It was the best drama available on Hoth. 

Not wanting to give Han and everyone else the satisfaction, Luke barely shot him an unhappy glance before storming out of the command center. Han watched him leave, his mouth dropping open. Of all the things he expected, he didn’t think Luke would just walk away. 

Behind the smuggler, General Rieekan silently counted down, holding up fingers for everyone else to see. 

Three, two, one… 

Han made a sound of frustration, marching right after the prince perfectly in time to the general’s assumptions. The command center barely managed to hold in their laughter until after the door had closed behind him. 

“Hey, your worship!” Han snapped, catching up to Luke quickly. He grabbed his arm, spinning him around to glare up at him. “What’s the deal, huh?” 

Luke yanked his arm out of Han’s grasp, glancing around at the people moving around them. He sighed, crossing his arms. 

“You said you were staying,” he said quietly, a note of hurt in his voice. “You said you were going to stay.” 

The fact that Han was abandoning them with barely a notice hurt. He thought that they had been growing close, but it seemed that Han was determined to ruin any chance they had of even a close friendship, not to mention anything more. Why hadn’t he even discussed this with him before making the abrupt decision to leave? 

“Well, the bounty hunter we ran into in Ord Mantell changed my mind,” Han said shortly. 

Luke sighed. A part of him actually understood that. He and Leia had been captured by Skorr in their Rebellion safe house as bait for Han. The three of them had barely escaped with their lives. In a rare moment of real vulnerability, Han later admitted to Luke that the experience had shaken him. Two of his best friends were put in real danger, simply because of his debt to Jabba the Hutt. No matter how much he tried to hide it, Han really did care. 

“I understand,” he told him, his eyes genuine and open. “But we need you, Han.” 

“We?” Han asked, narrowing his eyes and stepping closer to him. 

Luke stubbornly stared directly at Han’s chest, refusing to meet his eyes. He knew exactly what the smuggler was getting at. “Yes.” 

“What about what you need?” He suggested, smirking that infuriating little smile of his. Ugh, Luke hated how much he liked that smug smile sometimes. 

Calling on his calm royal persona, Luke finally looked up and gave Han a small, polite smile, which he knew had a tendency to drive him mad. 

“Not all of us have the luxury of only thinking about ourselves, Han,” he said, his voice sickeningly sweet, but the bite behind the words was unmistakable. With that, he turned and continued down the hall, his hands folded neatly in front of him. Facing away from Han, the tiniest hint of smugness drifted across his face. 

Han followed him, frustration making him move even faster. He was good at firing shots at Luke, trying to provoke an emotional reaction out of him, but Luke was equally good at returning them. Han had a temper. 

“Come on!” He teased, keeping pace with him. “You want me to stay because of the way you feel about me.” 

“Yes,” Luke replied, careful to use his cool politician voice. “You’re of great use to us. You’re a natural leader.” 

“No, not that!” Han snapped, stepping in front of Luke to cut him off and stopping them short in the middle of the hallway. “Come on.” 

He grinned expectantly, spreading his hands as he waited. Luke stared up at him for a long moment, his face carefully blank. 

Of course he had feelings for Han. He had feelings for Han ever since he had comforted him while they were on Yavin IV. But he was increasingly annoyed with Han’s insistence on pressing the issue and then pulling sharply away, leaving him feeling like an idiot. He wasn’t about to admit feelings for Han until he showed some sign of real, genuine reciprocation. As long as the smuggler insisted on the pushy flirting without actually showing some feelings of his own, Luke was going to deny it. If Han really had feelings for him, he would get over his chronic commitment issues and have a genuine conversation with him. Until then, they would continue this ridiculous dance, each trying to annoy the other as much as possible until someone finally gave in. By the Force, it wasn’t going to be Luke. 

“You’re delusional,” he said irritably, rolling his eyes. A passing Rebellion officer coughed to hide a laugh as he slipped between them to continue down the hall. 

“Am I?” Han responded immediately, completely ignoring the other Rebellion members passing by in the hall. They had long since learned to just keep moving, to just pass through the tension without being bothered by it. “Then why are you so upset that I’m going? Afraid I’ll leave you behind without giving you a goodbye kiss?” 

“You’re the one following me, Han,” Luke said smoothly, trying to suppress a grin and failing. He leaned in, narrowing his eyes at the smuggler. “And I’d just as soon kiss a Wookie.” 

Han growled, oddly similarly to a Wookie. He shoved a finger in Luke’s face, who was pretending to be completely indifferent to his anger. 

“I can arrange that!” He spat, turning sharply and stalking off. His words echoed through the icy halls behind him, to where Luke was watching him go. “Chewie could use a good kiss!” 

Luke let out a slow breath, weaving his fingers together on his stomach as he watched Han disappear around a corner. A pang of hurt still stung in his chest. He had really thought that he and Han had a chance together, but it seemed like Han was always going to run away from his feelings at any opportunity. It was aggravating, and Luke knew he couldn’t allow himself to fall for a man that he couldn’t count on. 

None of that knowledge helped ease the unhappiness rooted in his heart. Trying to swallow down the bitter taste in the back of his mouth, he turned around, heading back to the command room. Once Leia reported back in, he could talk to her about it. She was more than used to hearing his rants about Han. 

“Your highness,” General Rieekan called as he returned. Luke looked up, half expecting a jibe about him storming out on Han. What he got was far worse. “Has Commander Skywalker checked in yet?”

Worry made Luke’s heart go cold. “She hasn’t returned?” 

Han stormed back into the hangar where the Falcon was, still grumbling under his breath about how Luke needed a good kiss. He admittedly lost his temper almost as easily as Leia, but Luke drove him insane sometimes. The prince was so warm and kind with everyone else, but there were times when he would pull up this cold mask and shut Han out completely. All his attempts at flirting just bounced right off that little politician smile of his. Han could charm just about anyone, so Luke’s odd immunity was aggravating. 

There was a part of him that genuinely wanted to stay. He was never happier than when he was joking around with Leia and teasing Luke. Leia was five feet of fury and had gotten him in a few bad situations with that spitfire mouth of hers, but she could always make him laugh. 

And Luke… it was hard to describe how he felt when he was with Luke. It was almost like the end of a good successful smuggling mission, that feeling of a brief safety and comfort. Except with Luke, he always felt that safe. The prince was one of very few people that he felt comfortable opening up to. Emotions seemed so easy to him, while Han could barely face his most of the time. 

He shook his head, moving over to the Millenium Falcon where Chewbacca appeared to be tearing out wires from half the circuits. His eyes widened, and he rushed over, looking at all the work that his first mate had been trying to do. 

“Why did you take this apart now?” He demanded, peering into the many openings. He waved his hands exasperatedly, shaking his head. “I’m trying to get us out of here and you pull both of these!” 

Chewbacca grumbled in reply, unamused with the Captain’s pissy attitude. He said as much as he began to put the wires back into place, shooting Han an irritated look. It was always easy to tell when he got into a spat with the prince. It was a very specific frustration that was funny to watch until he started taking it out on Chewbacca. 

“Excuse me, sir,” Threepio interrupted, thankfully saving Chewbacca from more of Han’s yelling. “Might I have a word with you please?”

“What do you want?” Han spat, whirling on the golden droid. 

“Well, it’s Prince Luke, sir,” he explained. “He’s been trying to get in touch with you on the communicator.”

“I turned it off, I don’t want to talk to him,” Han said, turning away. He didn’t want to think about Luke right now. It would only make it that much harder to leave. He just had to cut all his ties and go, nice and clean. 

“Oh,” Threepio seemed slightly taken aback by that. “Well, Prince Luke is wondering about Commander Skywalker. Nobody seems to know where she is.”

Han turned back sharply, his eyes filled with a new concern. He thought that Leia was going to be coming back right after him. He wouldn’t have left her otherwise. How did nobody know where she was?

“What do you mean, nobody knows?” 

Threepio began to answer, but Han was already turning away from him, heading towards someone more useful. “Deck officer, deck officer!” 

The deck officer approached quickly. Threepio tried to interject again, but Han just put a hand over his mouth. While he could have very well continued speaking, it didn’t seem like there was any point. Nobody could ignore him as well as Han Solo. 

“Do you know where Commander Skywalker is?” He asked the deck officer, turning towards him with a hand still over Threepio’s mouth. 

“I haven’t seen her,” the young man answered. “It’s possible she came in through the South entrance.” 

“It’s possible?” Han repeated. He glared at the officer, releasing Threepio so he could step forward to poke him hard in the chest. “Why don’t you go find out? It’s getting dark out there!”

“Yes sir.” The deck officer scurried away, clearly happy for any excuse to get away from the angry pirate. 

Nobody knew where Leia was. She hadn’t checked in at any of the entrances, and nobody had seen her since she left for her patrol. Han knew she liked to be outside, that the tiny indoors of the Echo Base had a tendency to drive her mad, but she always knew to check in when she returned and to be back before sunset. Luke had lectured her about it several times; he was the only one brave enough to do so, and she had listened because of his insistence. This absence was unlike her. 

“We’ll have to go out on Tauntauns,” Han decided, shoving past the small group of Rebellion members to get one himself. Everyone else seemed keen on standing around and talking while one of his best friends was out there in the cold. 

“Sir, the temperature’s dropping too rapidly!” The deck officer protested, following him. 

“That’s right, and my friend’s out in it.”

He mounted a Tauntaun swiftly, pulling on his gloves and taking a breath. The cold at this time was going to be brutal, but he wouldn’t leave Leia out there in the cold. She was so tiny, she would freeze to death way too fast. Then she would haunt him and yell at him for the rest of his life about how he hadn’t been there for her when she needed it. He couldn’t have that. 

“Your Tauntaun will freeze before you reach the first marker!” The deck officer interjected again. 

Han turned sharply on his Tauntaun, shooting the officer a menacing glare that neared Leia’s fear factor. The man and many others standing nearby all took a few steps back. “Then I’ll see you in hell!”

With that, he snapped the reins on his Tauntaun, rushing out into the night to the last place that he had seen Leia. The officers watched him go from the doorway, stunned into silence by that last comment. They stayed still, watching Han until he disappeared into the snow. It didn’t take long; a blizzard was already beginning to blow across the plains. Finally, someone broke the silence. 

“So… who wants to update the prince?”

Leia didn’t think her head had ever hurt this much. Her heartbeat pounded like giant drums in her ear, nearly deafening. Her face stung in lines of pain. It was hell to open her eyes, but she forced herself to do it, biting back a groan as the pain doubled. 

Everything in her sightline was disorienting and confusing. How were icicles rising from the ground like that? Did she have a concussion? It was possible, but she blearily realized that it wasn’t the reason that everything looked so strange. She was hanging upside down. 

No wonder my head hurts, she thought, trying to see past the endless white of the snow.

A low growl echoed from in front of her. She blinked, and the Wampa came into focus against the icy cave. Its claws and maw were damp with redness, and it lifted up a giant claw to out another chunk of fresh meat in its mouth. Leia did a quick check, glancing over her body. Thank the Force, she wasn’t missing any limbs yet. Unfortunately, her Tauntaun was probably that thing’s dinner. 

Not quite ready to be dessert, Leia glanced around frantically. Her lightsaber was in the snow below her. She strained for it, but her arms were too short. She cursed under her breath. Who had the shortness genes in her family? She had been told that Anakin Skywalker was at least six feet tall, so why did she end up like this?

Unfortunately, her cursing drew the attention of the Wampa, who was certainly interested in fresh meat. She fought off panic as it pushed itself to its feet, shuffling towards her. She needed the lightsaber, so she had to use the Force. Pushing the fear away, she took a deep breath, clearing her mind. She reached for the warm feeling of peace that she found in the Force. It was like embracing an old friend, warming and calming her even in the face of imminent death. As she reached out to it, her hand stretched out towards the lightsaber again.

Her sharp brown eyes snapped open, and the lightsaber flew to her palm just in time. In a split second, she had activated it, swinging at her feet to free them. The Wampas claws closed together over her as she dropped to the ground. The impact sent tremors of pain running up her cold bones, making her grit her teeth, She rolled away, coming up to one knee with the lightsaber grasped firmly in her hand. 

The Wampa reached for her, but she stood her ground. With an angry yell, she rose to her feet and brought the lightsaber down forcefully. 

There was a roar of pain that shook the cave, making her drop the lightsaber and clap her hands over her ears. She watched with mild awe as the Wampa backed away, clutching the place where its arm used to be. It was exactly what Ben had done in Mos Eisley. She was really getting good with the lightssaber

There was no time to celebrate. Leia picked up her lightsaber and forced her aching body to run out of the cave. 

Unfortunately, she ran straight into a blizzard. The harsh winds had no mercy on her, battering her weak body from side to side. She wrapped her arms around herself for warmth, struggling to stay on her feet. If Hoth blizzards were anything like Tatooine dust storms, falling would likely bury her in minutes. 

Snow seemed to blow directly into her face no matter where she turned, making the jagged cuts sing with pain. Gritting her teeth, she forced herself to keep moving forward. But every step was more difficult. Lifting her legs felt nearly impossible. When she fell, it was as if she was being crushed by a Tauntaun. She groaned, struggling to pull herself forward, but her hands were numb. All they could do was scrabble uselessly at the snow.

She groaned into the snow, hopelessness squeezing in her chest. What was she going to do now? Nobody would ever find her in the middle of this blizzard. They could barely navigate Hoth on a good day. She was going to freeze out here, and that would be the end of it. 

Her pessimistic thoughts were interrupted by a familiar voice. 

“Leia,” someone called, as if from a long distance. “Leia.”

She forced herself to raise her eyes, disbelief crossing her face. When she tried to speak, her voice was barely audible, small and weak. “Ben?” 

Sure enough, Ben was right there in front of her. He was glowing a pale blue, barely visible, but there all the same. Relief warmed Leia slightly. Ben was here. Now he could help lead her back to the base–

“You will go to the Dagobah system,” Ben intoned. 

Leia choked out a painful laugh. It tasted like blood. Of course Ben had only shown up while she was on the brink of death to give her more homework. The old jackass. 

“Sure,” she forced out hoarsely. “I’ll get on it if I don’t die in the next hour.” She meant for the words to sound sarcastic and harsh, but they only sounded like an echo of her true anger. She was too weak to yell like she wanted to.

“There you will learn from Yoda, the Jedi Master who instructed me,” Ben continued, indifferent as always to her bitter sarcasm and biting anger. With that, his image faded, leaving Leia wanting to scream at nothing. She gathered her energy to try and yell something at him, but darkness was quickly overtaking the white snow around her. She struggled to get out words, but nothing came out. All she could do was moan softly before falling into unconsciousness. 

Luke and Chewbacca stood vigil in the giant doorway of the Echo base, both staring out at the snow as they waited for their friends to return. Luke shivered, but Chewbacca was fine with all that fur. He eyed the Wookie enviously for a moment before returning his gaze to the endless snow and darkness. R2-D2 was nearby, his scanner open and scanning across the landscape, but his distressed beeps made it clear that even his sensors couldn’t find anyone. 

First Han, now maybe Leia too. The despair of the situation made a lump rise in his throat. It was impossible to speak; he would only end up crying, and then the tears would freeze on his face. So he pressed his lips together tightly, trying to breathe through his nose. 

“Prince Luke, Artoo says he’s been quite unable to pick up any signals,” Threepio reported, but he was trying to be optimistic for Luke’s sake. His old protocol droid always knew when to be gentle with him. “Although he does admit that his range is far too weak to abandon all hope.”

Luke nodded in acknowledgement, but his eyes never left the landscape. All he could think about was Leia and Han, probably both on the verge of freezing to death in the snow. Anxiety and worry mixed together unhappily in his stomach. What would be worse, if they never found their bodies or if he would have to look at the frozen bodies of his friends and know there was nothing he could do–

“Your highness,” Major Derlin interrupted his thoughts, which Luke was mildly grateful for. But the man ruined it almost immediately. “There’s nothing more we can do tonight. The shield doors must be closed.”

Luke looked up at him for a long moment. He wanted to protest, but he understood the need to close the doors and protect the rest of the base from the blizzard. Nobody would let him stay alone out here either, so he had to go inside and try to sleep while his friends froze to death. 

Resignation heavy in his gaze, he nodded, silently giving permission to close the doors. The droids shuffled in quickly. Luke couldn’t find it in himself to move, so Chewbacca gently pulled him backwards so they were just inside. He clung to the Wookie’s arms, leaning back into his warm embrace. He needed the comfort right now. His gaze remained on the snow until the doors shut with an ominous boom that echoed all throughout the base. 

He closed his eyes, a tear slipping out from beneath one of his eyelashes. Chewie made a soft noise of understanding, gently draping one furry arm around the prince’s shoulders and leading him back into the base. Luke leaned against him, sighing. It was going to be a long night. 

“Leia!” Han yelled. On his Tauntaun, he couldn’t see anything in the snow. Despair wrapped around his chest, worry over the desert girl that he had grown to care about immensely over the past few years. She wasn’t just the annoying brat that he had put up with; she was one of his closest friends. He would be damned if he left her to die in the snow. 

The snowstorm spun around him, making seeing nearly impossible. He didn’t know how he was ever going to find her. All he could see was white beyond the head of the Tauntaun. He squinted, pulling off his goggles to see better. When he put his hand down, he saw it. 

Or more accurately, he saw her. 

At first, he thought he was looking at Leia. But this woman was a glowing blue, looking right at him and standing perfectly still. Something about her expression, stern but gentle, reminded Han of both Leia and Luke, respectively. Her dress and hair flowed slightly, but it was if they were being tossed by a gentle breeze, not the harsh winds of the snowstorm. She didn’t even seem to react to the freezing snow. 

Suddenly, Han felt a little colder, and not because of the storm. This woman was a ghost. He had heard about people appearing through the power of the Force, but he had never seen it before. It was creepy, even if the woman didn’t seem to harbor any malice towards him. She was just looking, right? 

He was proven wrong when she raised a hand, beckoning him to follow her. She turned around, moving away. 

Han shuddered. The way she walked was still so human; she didn’t fly or glide across the ice. She walked like a normal person. It was beyond disconcerting. All he wanted to do was turn and run away, but a part of him couldn’t tug the Tauntaun’s reins to ride it away. A gut feeling told him that the woman might be trying to help. He certainly wasn’t in a position to refuse aid. 

Swallowing hard, he nudged the Tauntaun forward, following the woman through the snow. She always remained close enough so he could see her, but then again, it would be hard to lose a glowing woman, even in a snowstorm. 

They only walked for a few moments before Han saw something else in the snow, barely even visible. It was a deceptively small figure, a small grey and brown spot within the sea of white. 

A jolt of excitement went through him, and he nudged the Tauntaun forward a little faster. Leia, it had to be her. The woman had led him to Leia! His friend didn’t seem to be in good shape; she was lying facedown, motionless. 

The ghost still beat him to her, even if he was riding on the Tauntaun. As he approached, he saw the pale blue figure kneel next to the motionless body, placing a see through hand on her back. Even past the snow, Han could see her face. There was a look of infinite sadness draped over her features. Concern made it hard to breathe. Was Leia hurt? Was that why the woman looked like that? Were they too late? 

“Leia!” He shouted, pushing himself off the Tauntaun and stumbling over to her. It was a struggle to move against the wind, but he forced himself to do it, his eyes fixed on his friend. “Leia!”

But when the woman looked down at Leia, something else crossed her face. It almost seemed like love, a gentle, warm affection. For the life of him, Han couldn’t place why her expressions seemed so familiar to him. Over the wind, he could hear a gentle voice speaking softly, could barely see the ghost’s lips moving as she looked down at Leia. But the words were lost to the blizzard. 

As Han rushed over to Leia from the Tauntaun, the woman faded to nothingness, but he had almost forgotten about her by then. His focus was on his friend. He rolled her over, gathering her close with worry in his eyes. Leia was terrifyingly pale, her lips touched with blue from the cold. Han shook her a bit, trying to rouse her. She was so cold. 

“Come on, Leia,” he said desperately. “Don’t do this to me.” 

He put his ear to her mouth, hoping that she was still breathing. The slightest gasp came from her lips, but even her breath was cold against his ear. 

A groan from the side distracted him, and he glanced up to see his Tauntaun loose a dying wail before falling into the snow. It was motionless after that. A twinge of regret tugged at him, but only a small one. The Tauntaun’s death might be a chance for Leia to live. 

Glancing back and forth between the Tauntaun and his friend for a moment, Han made a snap decision. He dragged Leia’s unconscious body towards the dead animal. It was like dragging a doll; her body was completely limp. It made Han feel ill to look at her. He had never wanted to see his young friend so close to death. 

“Not much time,” he muttered to himself, searching Leia’s body for that stupid lightsaber she was so attached to. He found it quickly, clipped to her belt like always. “Hang on, kid.” 

With a swift movement, he ignited the weapon, holding it at a careful distance. Even holding the lightsaber was hot enough to melt the snow off his gloves, but it was only a temporary help. Taking a breath, he slit the Tauntaun’s stomach, letting the intestines spill out into the snow. 

“This may smell bad, kid,” he admitted, nearly retching from the smell himself. “But it’ll keep you warm until I can get the shelter up.” 

Grunting, he hauled Leia’s small form into the carcass, shoving her inside and taking a moment to appreciate that she wasn’t awake to yell at him for this. Though, to be fair, being inside a dead animal could not have been the grossest experience of her life. After all, she had grown up on Tatooine. 

He groaned, taking a moment to lean against the Tauntaun and breathe. 

“And I thought they smelled bad on the outside,” he panted. With a grunt, he shoved himself off the creature, grabbing the pack off the saddle and beginning to set up a meager shelter for the night. 

Han’s hands were mostly numb, so it took a long time to get the shelter fully set up. He cursed as he struggled to make his fingers work, occasionally having to stop to rub some life back in his hands. Finally, when it was completely ready, he dragged Leia out of the Tauntaun again, almost vomiting as the smell hit him all over again. Stars, Leia was going to reek for weeks after being inside that. He would have felt bad, but it had saved her life. 

The shelter didn’t do a whole lot. It kept the wind off their backs, prevented even more snow from soaking them, but it was still bitterly cold inside. But any repisite from the storm was a relief. 

Han didn’t know a lot about medical care, but he had packed some thermal heaters. Carefully, he began to slowly get Leia warmed up again. She remained unconscious, but at least her body wasn’t freezing to the touch any longer. A little touch of warmth returned to her cheeks, slightly pink in the meager light of their lamp. 

Han sighed, sitting back after he had done all he could. Hopefully it was enough to keep Leia alive until they could get her to the bacta immersions. The storm was still going strong. Han wouldn’t even be able to put out a communication antenna until the wind died down, so there were still several hours of waiting left. 

“If I didn’t know better, I’d say that Luke put you up to this,” he told Leia drily. “He tries to hide it, but he’s pissed that I’m leaving. You should have seen him when I told General Rieekan that I was going. He didn’t think I noticed, but I saw. And then he just walked out on me when I tried to say goodbye!”

Han fiddled with one of the thermals, adjusting it so he could try and defrost a little more of her body. Hopefully she wouldn’t wake up while he was going on like this. Luke and Leia were close; if she heard half of this she would definitely be reporting to her best friend. He’d never live that down.

“Look, it’s not like I want to leave,” he admitted, his voice a little softer. “But Ord Mantell was… it was a real sticky situation. That kind of stuff, the bounty hunters, they won’t stop coming until I pay off my debt to Jabba. As long as I’m here, you or Luke is going to end up in the crossfire, so it makes sense for me to just clear out now.” 

He opened his mouth to continue, but closed it. The words it will be easier for everyone were on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn’t force himself to say it. Even the idea of leaving Luke behind made his chest ache. Leia too, of course but Luke… He really cared about Luke. Much more than he was ever going to admit to anyone. Every time they were assigned a mission together, he would outwardly grumble about having to drag a royal around, but internally he was always giddy. When they were alone together, he felt like he could relax. Most of the time, he was careful to shove all his emotions away, making sure that everyone else only ever saw his bravado. But occasionally, with Luke, those walls lowered, and he felt like he could really be himself. Luke’s own comfort with opening up to his friends about his emotions made it easier for Han to do the same. 

Luke amazed him, in that way. He was comfortable with himself. Hiding emotions was only something he did when he was trying to be a leader, be strong for his people. It was always for them, never for protecting himself. For someone who had a habit of putting his own needs above everyone else, it was admirable. 

Now Han had really upset him. A part of him wished that Luke had yelled at him, exploded in anger or something. But that carefully calm face, the touches of sadness in those sky blue eyes, they just screamed “I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed,” which was infinitely worse. Maybe he had screwed things up permanently with their argument. 

But then again, he wasn’t gone yet.

“You think there’s any chance of something happening between the prince and me?” He asked Leia, glancing over at her unconscious form. 

She didn’t respond, but he could almost hear the sarcastic retort anyways.


	2. Evacuating Hoth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for any typos, I didn't edit much. Happy reading!

Leia wasn’t quite sure when she came to. There were moments when voices seemed to pierce through the darkness while she slept. She didn’t recognize all of them, but they echoed in her mind.

_Leia, you must go to the Dagobah system… Find Yoda._

_I love you, my daughter._

_You and Luke are going to end up in the crossfire…_

When she fully woke, she was pleasantly warm. It was especially nice after losing all feeling in her extremities while in the snow. She blinked awake, shifting slightly. Surprisingly, the feeling brought no pain.

She was in one of their safe recovery rooms, clean cream sheets covering her. An attending medical droid whirred quietly nearby, alongside an anxiety ridden protocol droid and a cussing R2 unit.

“Commander Leia!” Threepio said delightedly. “It’s so good to see you fully functional again.” She smiled weakly up at him. R2 beeped his good wishes as well.

“You scared us,” Luke said, stepping forward. She smiled warmly at him, reaching out to take his hand. He sat on the bed beside her, lightly brushing a hair out of her face. His eyes were concerned as he looked her over, and although she couldn’t feel the pain any longer, she knew he was probably looking at where the Wampa had cut her up. “How are you feeling?”

“Warm,” she answered, smiling. She had quite missed feeling warm on this planet, especially after the events of last night. It would make her happy for quite a bit.

Luke laughed. “That’s probably the bacta. We had you in for about an hour, and it seems to have done the job.”

“Who came and got me?”

Luke opened his mouth to answer, but the door sharply opened before he could. Han leaned over the bed, grinning down at Leia. She could see his gaze flick over her for a moment, quickly determining that she was fine before he continued teasing her.

“How are you feeling, kid?” He asked, grinning crookedly. “You don’t look so bad to me. In fact, you look strong enough to pull the ears off a Gundark.”

“I did that when I was eight,” she shot back instantly. A hint of a smile tugged at her lips, the only sign that she was joking. Han stared at her with wide eyes for a moment before he caught on, and he lightly shoved her shoulder, rolling his eyes.

“That’s two you owe me, short stuff,” he informed her, pointing at her. She chuckled, shaking her head.

Leia knew that trouble was coming right when Han turned to Luke, who had stood off to the side while Han checked over her. He crossed his arms as Han addressed him, looking immensely annoyed.

“Well, your worship, looks like you managed to keep me around for a little while longer,” he said, grinning darkly.

Luke looked up at him, clearing his face of emotion and simply looking up at Han. Leia, Chewie, and the droids all watched, just waiting to see how this was going to go horrendously wrong. It always did eventually with those two. Han seemed to be pushing his luck extra hard this time, however.

“I had nothing to do with it,” Luke said coolly. “General Rieekan thinks it’s dangerous for any ships to leave the system until we’ve activated the energy shield.”

“That’s a good story,” he teased, shooting Leia a smug look. She shook her head, but was ignored as Han turned his attention back to the prince. He crossed his arms, leaning up against her cot. “I think you just can’t bear to let a gorgeous guy like me out of your sight.”

Luke slowly shook his head, giving him almost a pitying look. “I don’t know where you get these ideas from, laser brain.”

Chewie laughed at that, making Han shoot him a betrayed look. Last night, waiting for news of their friends, they spent a lot of time talking, mostly about Han. In a certain moment of irritation with the pirate, they had just spent time compiling a list of all the different names that they could call him. It was quite therapeutic.

“Laugh it up, fuzzball,” he said, glaring at his first mate. A smirk drew over his face, and he moved over to Luke, throwing an arm around him and pulling him close. Luke squirmed, irritated with yet another attempt to annoy him, but Han had a good grip on him. “But you didn’t see us alone in the south passage. He expressed his true feelings for me.”

Luke rolled his eyes, not trying to pull out of Han’s grasp any longer. Instead he just crossed his arms, glaring up at Han. From this angle, Leia could see the slight flush of his cheeks, which told her that Han had hit pretty close to the mark.

“Leave him alone, Nerf herder,” she said, chucking her pillow at him. She had impeccable aim, it hit him right in the face. He yelped in surprise at the attack, releasing Luke, who shot Leia a grateful smile.

Han threw the pillow back at Leia, who caught it and smugly tucked it back behind her head. He really should have known better than to try and rile Luke up in her presence. She had plenty of experience defending her friends from annoying men.

“Teaming up on me,” Han grumbled, taking the hint and leaving. He walked past Luke, who grinned up at him. Chewie ruffled Luke’s hair as he walked by, making the prince laugh.

“I appreciate you,” he said once they were gone, moving behind her. She could feel his hands gently start to finger comb her hair, which was in a disastrous state from the bacta tank.

“I won’t always be here to shut him up, Luke,” she warned, closing her eyes and relaxing as he fixed her hair. He could always do the best hairstyles for her; apparently fancy braids were very fashionable on Alderaan. Since a nice hairstyle on Tatooine was a simple bun, she always liked what he ended up making for her.

“You planning on going somewhere?”

Her eyes opened, and she didn’t answer immediately. She did remember what Ben had told her before she passed out. Yoda was a Jedi master, in the Dagobah system. While she didn’t want to leave Luke, the idea of learning more about the Force thrilled her. It was another step to being a real Jedi. That kind of power would let her do so much for the Rebellion.

“Ben came to me,” she admitted. “He told me to go to Dagobah, to learn from one of his old masters.”

His hands stilled for a moment. She couldn’t see his face, but she could feel his sadness at the news. It made her heart squeeze a bit. She didn’t want to hurt him, but this was so important to her.

“So both you and Han are going,” he said softly, slowly resuming his finger combing.

“Not forever,” she promised, turning to look at him. She took his hand, squeezing it gently. “I’ll come back, I just need to learn what he has to teach me first.”

Luke sighed, looking at her lovingly. It was hard to love someone as willful and strong as Leia. She was always looking beyond him, to the stars. Admittedly, she belonged there. That was why he could never ask her to stay. Luke’s place was with the Rebellion. It was what his father would have wanted, and it was where he felt like he could do the most good in the world. He wanted to give people peace. But Leia, Leia was destined for something far beyond this. Her name was going to be known throughout history, it was her destiny.

“Just come home safe,” he said quietly, touching her cheek gently.

She gave him a cocky grin. “Like anything could stop me.”

He rolled his eyes, nudging her shoulder for her to turn around. “Ugh, you sound like Han.”

“What is the deal with you two?” She asked, obediently turning so he could finish her braid. “I knew you were dancing around each other, but it seems like he’s taken it up a notch.”

“I think he wants me to fall over and cry that he’s leaving or something,” Luke said, and she could hear the annoyance dripping from his words. “But he isn’t getting that, not this time. If he really wants something to happen between us, he needs to grow up and admit it. I’m done with the flirting.”

Leia nodded in agreement, wincing as the movement tugged at her hair. Maybe she wasn’t entirely healed yet.

She had watched Luke and Han flirt for the past three years, and it could be agonizing. Luke, to her at least, always wore his heart out on his sleeve. He clearly adored Han, and had for ages, but the commitaphobe could barely admit that he was crazy about the prince as well. So it was an endless cycle that everyone else seemed to enjoy, but Leia was absolutely done with. She half considered locking them in a closet together until they just confessed their obvious feelings and kissed already.

“In the meantime, do you want me to teach you a little trick in case he tries something else?” She offered, giving him a wicked grin. Everyone knew that she could take care of a pushy man very easily. At this point, everyone in the Rebellion was afraid to ask her out. And that was just how she liked it.

A matching evil grin spread across his face. “Oh _stars_, yes.”

Some time later, Luke left Leia to rest a little longer in the infirmary, returning to the command center. He was immediately met with grim news.

“Prince Luke,” General Rieekan called, beckoning for him to come over. “We have a visitor.”

Luke rushed over. To his irritation, Han was right on his heels. Internally, he groaned. Why was the smuggler intent on annoying him? He just wouldn’t leave him alone.

“We’ve picked up something outside the base in zone twelve, moving east,” Rieekan reported. “Sensors say that it’s metal.”

Han and Luke studied the screen, but there was very little information available. Sensors didn’t work well in such cold temperatures.

“If it’s metal, it wasn’t one of those things that attacked Leia,” he murmured, his eyes locked on the screen.

“It could be a speeder,” Han suggested. “One of ours.”

“Wait,” one of the officers said, touching her headphones and frowning. “Something very weak is coming through.” She hit a button, playing the sound out loud. It was an odd message, one that Luke didn’t recognize at all.

“Your highness, I am fluent in over six million forms of communication,” Threepio said, wandering over. “This signal is not used by the Alliance. It could be an Imperial Code.”

Static overtook the signal. Han nodded shortly, beginning to move away.

“Whatever it is, it’s not friendly,” he said. Luke fought the urge to roll his eyes. Well that was obvious. “Come on Chewie, let’s check it out.”

The pair headed out, and Luke had to force himself to keep his eyes on the screen so he didn’t watch them leave. He had to get used to people leaving. It wouldn’t do any good to dwell on it every time Han left a room. Not to mention it made him look hopelessly enamoured, and they couldn’t have that.

He and Rieekan waited by the comlink as Han and Chewie went after the invader. There was only silence for a moment, followed by an explosion. Luke’s eyes went wide, and he stared hard at the comlink, willing Han’s voice to come through.

“Well, there’s not much left,” Han admitted, and the sound of his voice made Luke’s knees weaken a little with relief. He shook his head, pressing a button to speak back.

“What was it?”

“A droid of some kind,” Han’s voice came cackling back. “I didn’t hit it that hard. There must have been some kind of self destruct.”

A feeling of dread came over Luke, and he looked at Rieekan to see the same understanding in his eyes. “An Imperial probe droid.”

“It’s a good bet the empire knows we’re here,” Han added.

Luke sighed, hanging his head for a moment. So it seemed that their brief period of peace had ended.

“Let’s get the evacuation started,” he told Rieekan, moving to give the order. At least he had finished the new evac protocols already. With enough time, they’d be able to get out safely.

Leia’s rest didn’t last long, which she was secretly glad for. An evacuation would give her a good opportunity to go find this Yoda person. Once everyone was out safely, she could take her X-Wing and rendezvous with the others afterwards. She had found Luke and given him a quick hug before heading to the hangar.

As she walked, she adjusted the straps of her orange uniform, her helmet tucked under one arm. She passed by the Falcon. As she figured, they were struggling to make it functional, Han sitting on the roof consulting with one of the base droids and Chewie at the base.

“Hey Chewie,” she said, walking past and affectionately punching him on the arm. “Take care of yourself, yeah? Don’t let that pirate get you killed.”

She began to walk away, but he pulled her into a tight hug. She laughed, patting his arms. That big softie.

“Hey kid!” The voice came from above, and Leia looked up at Han, who was waving off the repair droid as it tried to discuss the lifter with him. “You all right?”

Leia rolled her shoulders back, doing a mental checkdown of her injuries. They were mostly healed, thankfully. The only remaining pain was a bit of soreness. “Yeah.”

His gaze lingered for a moment, concern in his eyes. He didn’t want his young friend to go back out into danger, but there was no stopping her. They all knew that. “Be careful.”

She smiled up at him, affection in her eyes. “You too.”

There was a lot more to say, but they weren’t quite good at that. So they just looked at one another for a long moment, raising a hand to each other one last time before turning back to the matters at hand.

Leia jogged over to join the other pilots, who had assembled together surrounding Prince Luke. He was much shorter than most of their pilots, but he stood tall, his hands clasped firmly behind his back. His face was carefully straight as he addressed the crowd, which Leia admired. She knew he preferred to work strategy from behind the scenes, but he didn’t show any of that in front of their troops.

“Troop carriers, assemble at the north entrance,” he explained, turning slowly so he could address the entire circle. “Heavy transport will leave as soon as they’re loaded, escorted by two fighters each. The energy shield can only be opened for a short time, so you have to stay close to your transports.”

“Two fighters against a Star Destroyer?” Hobbie asked, looking concerned.

“The ion cannon will fire several shots to clear any enemy ships from your flight path,” Luke said. “Once you’ve gotten past the energy shield, proceed directly to the rendezvous point. Understood?”

The pilots nodded, beginning to break off.

“Good luck,” Luke called as they hurried away. Leia walked up to him after they had dissipated. He caught her eye. “The Rogue Squadron is on defense until we all make it out. Artoo is waiting in your X-Wing, and he’ll make sure you get wherever you need to be once the battle ends.”

She gave him a short nod, gratitude in her eyes. She briefly squeezed his hand before making her way to her two-person snowspeeder, where her copilot Dak was waiting. He was young, excited to be working with the Rebellion and even more so to be the gunner for the Rogue Leader. Leia thought of him as the cute puppy that she had inadvertently become responsible for. But he was a good gunner, so she didn’t complain.

“Feeling alright, Commander?” He asked, pulling on his helmet as she climbed into the ship.

“Ready to kick some ass, Dak,” she replied. “You?”

“Right now I feel like I could take on the whole Empire myself!”

She chuckled, pulling on her helmet. “I know what you mean.”

They took off, heading towards the battlefield. Their goal was to defend the power generator, which was their main defense against large scale attacks.

She was well accustomed to seeing in desert landscapes, so she was able to spot the AT-ATs first, towering over the distant ridges. She hadn’t fought these before, only heard reports.

In the past, she would have sent the ships blasting in immediately, hitting these with all their might and seeing what hits worked best in action. But dozens of other fights with the Empire had taught her that it wasn’t always the best move. Long nights discussing strategy with Luke had helped her learn to assess a situation before calculating a response. There wasn’t much time to calculate, so she went with her gut.

“Commander, I have no approach vector,” Dak said worriedly, frantically pressing buttons on the ship. Leia barely heard him, too focused on deciding on an attack.

“Attack pattern Delta!” She ordered, and the ships immediately veered off.

They soared around the walkers, arching circles behind and above, where it would be difficult for the stiff weapons to fire at them. But their hits did nothing, bouncing harmlessly off the strong outer shells.

“It’s too strong for blasters,” Wedge reported, scanning the walkers as they flew.

“Use your harpoons and tow cables,” Leia said, looking at the long, spindly legs. They couldn’t be that steady. “Go for the legs, it might be our only chance of stopping them.”

She brought the ship around, gritting her teeth. She hated flying these stupid things; they were practically falling apart, barely held together by the Rebellion engineers. Most of them had been so busy fixing the ion cannon that the snowspeeders could barely be called functional. She missed her X-Wing.

“Commander, there’s a malfunction in the fire control!” Dak protested, struggling to get the harpoon ready. “I’ll have to cut in the auxiliary.”

“Fine,” Leia snapped. “Just have the harpoon ready.”

They were just getting close to the walker when Leia heard a small explosion and a hiss from behind her. Dak cried out, then went silent. She pulled the ship away from the battle, giving them a little distance so she could turn back to check on him.

“Dak?” She asked, seeing him slumped over in the chair. He was unconscious at best, dead at worst. “Dak!”

There was nothing. She cursed quietly, bridging the ship back towards the battle. These fucking ships. She would have to help Dak later, once they had taken these things down. Without a gunner, she would have to rely on the rest of the Rogue Squadron.

“Rogue Two!”

“Copy, Rogue Leader,” One of her best friend’s voices filtered back through the comlink, making her feel a little more hopeful despite losing Dak.

“Wedge, I’ve lost my gunner,” she said, bringing the ship back alongside him in the battle. “You’ll have to make this shot, I’ll cover you. Set your harpoon and follow me on this next pass.”

“Coming around Rogue Leader.”

They soared around one of the walkers, and Leia let Wedge give his gunner directions. He was a good leader as well, connecting with the troops with an ease that she had not perfected. The squadron knew that as the first in command, Leia was the scary one, and Wedge, being her second, was the nice one. It was a good system. Wedge’s gunner attached the tow cable perfectly.

“Good shot, Janson!” He praised. “One more pass.”

They would up the walker’s legs perfectly, sending it tumbling to the ground, where the ground soldiers and snowspeeders were able to blow it to pieces. Leia grinned as she watched it explode, a dark pleasure burning in her chest. She loved a good defeat.

“Keep it up!” She said, a note of pride in her voice.

While Leia fought the Empire on the front, Luke was running around the command center, struggling to ensure that all the staff were evacuating safely. But the ice was quickly weakening around them. People had already been hit and injured by falling chunks of ice into the base.

“We can’t protect two transports at a time,” Rieekan protested, staring at him with wide eyes.

“We don’t have a choice,” Luke said firmly, glancing up worriedly as a loud crack echoed through the room. As if to prove his point, the jagged cut ran across their ceiling. It wouldn’t hold long. The equipment shook violently, but held. “We need to take that risk.”

He nodded, leaning into his comlink and ordering the rest of the transports into the air. Luke followed shortly after, ordering the rest of the ground staff to get in on the evacuation. Time wasn’t on their side.

The ground troops and snowspeeders were doing their best to hold the Empire off, but as usual, they were hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned. No matter what they did, the walkers were blowing their defenses bit by bit.

“Rogue Three, you still with me?” Leia shouted into the comlink, trying to keep track of her troops. They had already lost a few.

“With you, Rogue Leader.”

“Same deal, set harpoon and I’ll cover for you,” she told him. “Watch that crossfire.”

“Coming around,” he said, following Leia towards the walkers. “Set for position– Ahh!”

Leia glanced out to the side, seeing Rogue Three explode and crash to the ground. Leia was on her own. Suddenly, lasterfire hit her own ship. She let out a long string of cursing as electricity flooded through the mechanics of her ship. She lost control, releasing the handles and covering her face as her ship spun to the ground.

“Hobbie, I’m hit!” she yelled, bracing herself for the inevitable crash.

They landed in a particularly large snowdrift, which gave her a surprisingly gentle landing. Unfortunately, they were right at the foot of an Imperial walker. She unstrapped her gear scrambling to get out of the ship. She checked Dak’s pulse, disappointed but unsurprised to find that there was nothing.

“I’m sorry, Dak,” she said quietly, scrambling for some of the equipment stored in the ship instead. She barely finished grabbing what she could before diving to the side as a giant metal foot crushed her ship, rendering it unsalvageable.

They finally got all nonessential equipment onto the last few transports. Everything else would have to be left here. Luke was bouncing from station to station in the command center, having sent Rieekan onto one of their more protected transports, which left him as the only Alliance High Command member still in the base. It was beyond stressful.

“Amee, Kes, get on the transports!” He ordered. If he had any choice in the matter, he was going to be the last one to leave this station. It was what a good leader did; this way everyone would just see him as a strong leader, not the panic that he was feeling. “Arden, have you wiped the computers yet?”

“Yes, your highness–”

“Then you clear out too.” Luke nudged Kes, who was a little resistant to the idea of leaving, out of his seat, donning the headset to issue orders to the base. It left only three of them back in the command, which Luke considered ideal. He would send the rest out as soon as he could.

“Luke!”

Luke turned to see Han, of all people, in the doorway, worry on his face. He opened his mouth to respond, but another explosion echoed overhead, causing a massive cave-in. He ducked away, crying out. He was hit by several chunks of ice, but it was only bruising, thankfully. He groaned. It still hurt.

“Are you all right?” Han yelled from across the room. Luke made a sound of exasperation as he pulled himself to his feet. Why did he care? Shouldn’t he be running off to Tatooine by now?

“Fine!” He shouted back, moving back to his station. “Why are you still here?”

He stood over the station that he had been working at, scanning the screen. They needed more soldiers on the south side of the base.

“I heard the command center had been hit,” Han called, picking over the large chunks of fallen ice to get over to Luke. He caught a flash of gold out of the corner of his eye. C-3PO hanging out with Han? That was new. Those two couldn’t stand one another.

“You already got your clearance to leave,” he snapped. He turned his attention back to his station, speaking into the comlink. “All troops, head to sector 12. Protect the fighters on the south slope.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll leave,” Han replied, irritation in his voice. Luke would have felt bad, since he seemed to be genuinely concerned for him, but he had a base full of Rebellion soldiers to worry about right now. He was too exhausted to deal with both Han and helping his people. “But first I’m getting you to your ship.”

“I’m _busy_!”

Han grabbed his arm, and Luke shook him off. He had to finish this.

“Your highness,” Threepio interjected desperately. “We need to take this last transport! It’s our only hope.”

“You two, get to your transports!” Luke ordered, gesturing for the two other officers in the room to get moving. They immediately obeyed, heading out. The collapsing roof had probably been the last straw, understandably so.

He started typing in the evacuation code, but another explosion rocked the base. He stumbled, clinging to the chair. Threepio fell into Han’s arms. He shoved the droid back to his feet, irritated resolve crossing his face.

“Imperial troops have entered the base,” the warning came over a loudspeaker, making Luke’s hands shake. It made it even harder to type the evacuation code. This was why he preferred to remain behind the scenes. Being captured by the Empire once was enough; the idea of it happening again was his worst nightmare. But he couldn’t let it happen to anyone else either.

“That’s it.” Luke knew from the smuggler’s tone of voice that Han was seconds away from dragging him out, so he rapidly typed in the evacuation code, sending it to every officer’s comlinks so they would know to clear out.

Hands suddenly grabbed him around the waist, and before he could register what was happening, he had been thrown over Han’s shoulder. He grunted, wincing. At this angle Han’s shoulder was digging right into his gut, and the layers that he was wearing did not soften the feeling in the least. Being suddenly upside down like this was incredibly disorienting. There was a small part of him that was relieved that he wouldn’t have to work the evacuation anymore. He was exhausted, but he still had enough dignity to run away himself.

“I can walk!” He snapped, struggling to lift himself up enough to glare at the back of Han’s head.

“You weren’t going to leave otherwise, your highness.”

“Wait for me!” Threepio wailed from behind them, struggling to keep up. His mechanical joints didn’t do well running, especially in the cold. Luke’s brain grumbled that Han would have done better sweeping the droid off his feet instead.

Leia didn’t get the evacuation signal, but she knew that it had been given by the sight of the ships and troopers beginning their retreat back to the base. She knew R2 would pick her up wherever, so she focused on giving her people a little extra time.

She ran directly under one of the walkers, firing her handheld harpoon straight up to the underbelly. As usual, the Empire didn’t expect a small, single person to be able to attack their giant weapons. It was why the Rebellion kept winning.

Her shot landed perfectly, safely pulling her straight beneath the AT-AT, the drivers none the wiser. She grinned, igniting her lightsaber and swinging it at one of the vulnerable looking vents. It burst, creating a perfect hole for her to chuck a grenade into.

Knowing that she had very little time, Leia detached herself from the cable, free falling into the snow. Knowing there was no logical way to hand safely, she closed her eyes and reached for the Force, thinking of how she was able to lift her lightsaber from the snow. She just needed the opposite effect.

She couldn’t be certain, but she thought her fall slowed slightly, and she landed safely in a snowdrift beneath the AT-AT. It continued forward, and she watched it carefully, silently counting down until sparks began to fly from the armor. It eventually blew altogether, and she grinned. Another one down.

But it wasn’t enough. In that moment, Leia noticed the furthest AT-AT had reached the base. Before she could even process the danger of that, their power generators blew. The explosion rippled the snow across the battlefield, making her throw a hand over her eyes.

That was it. Echo Base was officially done for. All that was left to do now was escape. Pushing herself to her feet, Leia ran through the snow as fast as she could manage, heading to where R2 was waiting for her.

Luke had almost adjusted to the gut-punch feeling hitting him every time Han took a step when another explosion sounded ahead. Han yelled, and fear immediately shot through Luke’s heart. A deafening explosion rocketed through the halls as the ceiling caved in. Han turned around sharply, falling to the ground. Luke’s head smacked the ice painfully, followed by a grunt as Han’s weight landed on top of him, covering him from falling ice.

He coughed, trying to breathe again as Han hauled him to his feet. The ground felt unsteady for a moment, and he distantly worried that it would cave in beneath them. But looking at Han’s blurry figure, he realized that the unsteadiness wasn’t the ground at all; it was just his head. It soon steaded, and Han’s face came back into focus.

Han took one look at the giant pile of rubble in front of them and turned around, tightly holding Luke’s arm and dragging him along. Luke struggled to keep up, stumbling. He was so tired.

“Transport, this is Solo,” he said into the comlink, hurrying back down the hall with Luke in tow. “Go ahead and take off, we can’t get to you. I’ll get the prince out on the Falcon.”

“I knew it,” Luke muttered, grabbing onto Han’s upper arm to keep himself steady as they ran. “You planned all this just so you could get me to run away with you.”

Despite himself, Han chuckled.

They bolted through the tunnels of the base towards the Falcon, Luke’s breath coming short and fast. There was a cold feeling in the back of his mind, distant, but barely. It was good incentive to push past his exhaustion and sprint alongside Han. Threepio did his best to keep up. Despite his constant annoyance with the protocol droid, Han did make an effort to make sure he wasn’t left behind.

“Come on, goldenrod!” He roared, pushing Luke ahead of him onto the ship. Chewie was already inside, doing his best to make sure it was functional. It was, barely. “You’re gonna be a permanent resident!”

Despite his threats, the loading ramp was down just long enough for Threepio to safely board, closing shortly after.

The cold feeling at the back of Luke’s mind came closer. It was familiar somehow, and not in a good way. The sensation brought back memories of fear, pain. Then it hit him.

“Vader is here,” he whispered, a hand lightly touching his upper arm. After his capture, the bruises left by Vader’s machine hands had lasted weeks.

Han looked at him, his eyes widening. He didn’t question Luke about it, seeing the fearful certainty in the prince’s eyes. Instead, he rushed to the cockpit.

“Will it get us past the blockade?” Luke snapped, his stress levels rising again. He could not face Vader again. He would rather die.

“She’s still got a few tricks left in her, sweetheart.” Han’s voice was grim, his shoulders tense as he pushed buttons and slowly got the engines running. Knowing that the two pirates were very particular about who got to pilot the ship, he hung back, waiting for the first mate.

Once Chewie joined them in the cockpit, they took off, flying out into the open snow and leaving the cold feeling of Vader’s presence behind. Luke relaxed slightly. Thank the stars that Han had gotten him out. If they had been back there just a few minutes longer, Vader would have had them.

For a moment, he looked fondly at the back of the snuggler’s head. He really did care. He was absolutely awful at showing it, but he did. At least for the moment, they seemed to be safe.

“See?” Han bragged, shooting Luke a smug look.

He only shook his head, smiling slightly at the pirate. “Don’t let it go to your head.”

Leia and Artoo were in space shortly after the Falcon made it out. Artoo had them on course to the Rebellion meeting spot, but Leia took them off the autopilot that the droid had helpfully set up, turning them the opposite direction.

[Where the fuck are you going?] Artoo beeped, the words appearing on a screen in the cockpit. [The rendezvous is the other way.]

“We’re not meeting up with them just yet,” she responded, pressing a few buttons to calculate the coordinates. “We’ve got a stop to make first.”

There was a moment of quiet as Artoo read the coordinates that she had set. Whenever he was connected to a computer, he had a tendency to download all the information it had. He knew too much, that way.

[Why are we going to the middle of nowhere?]

“It’s the Dagobah system,” Leia laughed, setting up a course.

[If the coordinates are in, I can get us there myself. You could use some rest.]

“I’m okay,” she replied. “I’d like to keep it on manual control for awhile.”

Artoo let out a few disappointed beeps, pouting. [You never let me do anything.]


	3. Everything Just Gets Worse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Millennium Falcon is never in working condition and Leia gets into a swampy situation

The peace of escaping Hoth lasted exactly three minutes. 

Chewbacca roared a warning, making Luke sit up sharply from where he had almost been relaxing in his seat. Something was definitely wrong.

“I saw them!” Han yelled, rapidly hitting buttons and glaring out the front window. Luke leaned forward, putting a hand on the back of his chair for balance. With Han’s flying skills, it was usually a miracle to stay in your own seat. 

“Saw what?” 

“Star Destroyers,” he said grimly, pointing. Luke paled, seeing the ominous shapes in the distance. He hated those things. “Two of them, headed right for us, another one behind.”

Threepio hobbled into the cockpit before Luke could reply, tapping the pilot on the shoulder insistently. 

“Sir, sir, might I suggest–”

“Shut him up or shut him down!” Han snapped, shoving the golden droid away. 

Luke wanted to defend Threepio, but there was no time. Yes, the droid was an anxious mess and usually incredibly annoying, but occasionally he had something important to say. But the situation was too urgent; they could listen to whatever he had to tell them later. He gently pushed the droid down into the seat behind Chewie, giving him a meaningful look to shut up. 

With the deflector shields out, it was all Luke could do to cling to his chair as Han whipped the Falcon into a frenzy, taking them in wild directions to outmaneuver the Star Destroyers. Suddenly, they dove straight down, making Threepio yelp and Luke close his eyes tightly. 

Somehow, it worked. The Star Destroyers actually crashed into one another. But they still had problems. TIE fighters, being smaller and more able to follow the Falcon’s twisting and turning path, were hot on their tail. 

“Prepare to make the jump to lightspeed,” Han told Chewie. 

“But sir!” Threepio protested, struggling to balance as laser blasts rocked the ship side to side. They became louder and louder as they neared. 

“They’re getting closer,” Luke pointed out unnecessarily. 

“Oh yeah?” Han said, shooting him a smug look as he leaned over to the lightspeed controls. “Watch this.”

He pulled the controls down, looking out the window expectantly, waiting for the stars to turn to streaks as they raced through space. But nothing happened. All they heard was the sound of the engine trying to work and crying in failure. Luke sighed, looking irritably over at Han. 

“Watch what?” He asked, completely deadpan. 

“I think we’re in trouble,” Han muttered, glancing worriedly over at Chewie. The Wookiee seemed to share the sentiment, groaning as they struggled with the switches. 

“If I may say so, sir, I noticed earlier that the hyperdrive motivator has been damaged,” Threepio chimed in. Luke groaned, putting his face in his hands. “It’s impossible to go to light-speed!”

“We’re in trouble,” Han confirmed, jumping out of his seat to go fix what he could. Chewie followed shortly to help, leaving Luke with Threepio in the cockpit. Luke leapt into the pilot’s seat, looking around to gauge what he could of their surroundings. He was no pilot, but he could at least keep them going. 

They had only made it a short way before he spotted a big problem, something that he most definitely was not equipped to fly through. An asteroid field seemed to come from nowhere. Luke grit his teeth, struggling to weave through the giant obstacles. Even though the Falcon was barely on the edge of the field, the asteroids were too fast and close; one hit them almost immediately. The jolt knocked Threepio straight to the ground with a wail. 

“Han, get up here!” He yelled, clutching the controls so hard his hands ached. 

The pilots came racing back in, and Luke happily vacated the pilots chair to make room, instead buckling Threepio into one of the chairs so he didn’t fall again. He didn’t want the old droid getting damaged. 

“Chewie, set two-seven-one,” Han said grimly. He aimed the ship towards the asteroid field, sending them even deeper into the storm. Luke’s eyes widened, and he stared at Han with horror. Was he… no even Han couldn’t be that stupid. He closed his eyes, grabbing one of the chairs for support. 

“Please tell me we’re not going into an asteroid field,” he said quietly, not sure whether he was addressing Han or praying to the Force. 

“They’d be crazy to follow us, wouldn’t they?” Han grinned maniacally, weaving them through the field with notably more expertise than Luke had, so maybe they wouldn’t die immediately. Still, this was madness. 

“There are better ways to impress me,” he said, another hit from an asteroid making his eyes fly open as he struggled to stay on his feet. “I’m fond of flowers.” 

“Sir, the possibility of successfully navigating an asteroid field is approximately three thousand, seven hundred and twenty to one,” Threepio wailed, waving his arms frantically. Well, that was encouraging. 

“Never tell me the odds!” 

They wove through the field, dodging the rocks flying in all directions as they bounded off the ship and one another. Their shields took hit after hit, and Luke had to bite his lower lip to keep quiet. After all, he still had some dignity to preserve. Threepio had no such reservations, screaming and holding onto Chewie for support. A particularly strong hit to the front of their shields knocked Luke back into his chair, making his already sore muscles scream their protest. 

“I’m going to get closer to one of the big ones,” Han decided, taking them on a course straight towards one of the biggest asteroids. 

“Closer?!” Luke, Threepio, and Chewie shouted the word in unison, looking at Han as if he had gone mad. But there was no deterring the pirate. 

TIE fighters still followed them, even as they descended into the nooks and crannies of the largest asteroid, weaving through trenches and dodging laser blasts. Han’s impressively erratic flying managed to lose the Imperial ships, and he took them down towards one of the larger craters. Luke relaxed slightly when they managed to survive longer than thirty seconds. Maybe Han had an idea there. 

“This is suicide,” Threepio said firmly, still not liking the smuggler’s flying style. “There’s nowhere to go!”

“Easy, Threepio.” Luke put a hand on his shoulder. “We’re not dead yet.”

Han scanned the surface for a long moment, then nudged Chewbacca, pointing downward. “There, that looks pretty good.”

Luke stood, trying to see what the smuggler had noticed. He just saw the jagged landscape of the asteroid, the caves and mountains. For the time being, he just watched, waiting to see what his friend had noticed. He trusted the idiot. 

“Yeah,” Han said, seemingly more to himself than anyone else. “That’ll do nicely.” 

They ducked into a seemingly endless cave, more than wide enough for the Falcon. Luke couldn’t help but smile a bit as he understood. It would be the perfect place to hide. The Empire would never find them. Eventually, they would either give up or assume that the Falcon had already been pulverized by the asteroid field. 

None of them knew, in that moment, just how determined Darth Vader was to capture them. 

  
  


[Don’t tell me this is it.]

When Leia and Artoo arrived at Dagobah, a planet whose surface was almost completely obscured by the fog, Artoo was less than impressed. Always a fan of the droid’s sass, Leia grinned, guiding the X-Wing towards the planet. 

“Yup, this is Dagobah,” she told him. 

He made a beeping noise that was the droid equivalent of “ugh.” Droids were rarely fans of planets with a lot of moisture. It made their joints rust more easily, electrical short outs more common. R2 was thankfully mostly waterproof, but that didn’t mean he liked it. 

[Any chance you’re willing to turn back around?]

“C’mon, Artoo, don’t tell me you’re scared,” Leia taunted. She knew just how to push his buttons. 

He grumbled, beeping at her irritably. 

She scanned her sensors, frowning. There were no cities here, no technology. Just concerningly giant life-form readings, which she decided not to share with her droid. With her luck he would end up trying to fight something. It made her more nervous than she cared to admit. Had she heard the wrong thing when she saw Ben? Had the words been warped by her dreams? What if the whole thing had been a cold-induced hallucination, and she was doing this for no reason?

She shook her head, clutching the controls a little tighter as she guided the ship through the atmosphere and into the clouds. She was certain that Ben had said to go to Dagobah, and a feeling in her gut told her to trust it. 

Her abrupt descent into the clouds proved to be a mistake. She immediately couldn’t see anything beyond the white mist. She cursed loudly, trying to use her scanning instruments. Nothing worked, everything was obscured by the storm. Artoo chimed in with his own extensive set of curse words, directing a few of them at Leia for bringing them here in the first place. 

“Yeah I know!” She snapped, struggling with the dead controls. “Hang on, I’m starting the landing cycle.” 

The clouds quickly turned into branches as Leia struggled to slow them down. The ship was knocked about by turbulence, rattling Leia in her seat. She was snapped forward as they sharply stopped, a giant splash heaving over the ship. 

She coughed, unbuckling from her seat and pushing up the hatch of her ship. What the hell did they crash into?

Past the clouds, she could see much better. They were in a giant swamp. The X-Wing was half sunk in murky water, barely visible past the pale blue fog floating across the ground. Trees emerged from dark earth, their branches hanging over the ship like monstrous hands. There were cries in the distance, and Leia could see giant reptilian birds take flight nearby, thankfully heading away from them. 

[Well, I hate this.] Artoo voiced his opinion as she took in the swamp. She couldn’t help but agree. This place was weird. It wasn’t as cold as Hoth, but it gave her a very cold feeling. She couldn’t quite place the chilling uneasiness in her gut. 

She scambled from the cockpit, turning slowly as she examined the landscape. She saw nothing comforting. Balancing carefully, she made her way down the nose of the X-Wing, 

[There is no way in hell that I’m going anywhere,] Artoo announced. He rose out of the X-Wing, balancing on top of it. [You got us into this bullshit, you look around.]

Leia turned back to sneer at him. Little brat, even if he did have a point. “Fine. Stay there.”

She stepped forward, intent on continuing to look around, but the ship suddenly rocked beneath her feet. She struggled to keep her balance, but where she succeeded, Artoo did not. He fell into the swamp, splashing and disappearing without a trace. Panic grabbed Leia, and she raced back up the ship, searching the area where he had fallen. 

“Artoo!” She yelled, her eyes frantically searching the water. “Artoo!” 

For an awful moment, Leia thought she had lost her favorite copilot. Just when she was beginning to give up hope, a small blue periscope peeked through the fog above the water. Artoo’s beeps were a little gurgled, but she could still hear him cursing her entire family for getting him into this as he started making his way to shore. 

“Yeah yeah,” Leia said, not too angry to let her relief come through in her tone. She shook her head. “Just be careful, idiot.”

Artoo repeated her words mockingly as he started towards what he assumed was the shore, but the mist must have made it difficult to see, because he definitely wasn’t headed in the right direction. 

“Artoo,” she called, giving him a smug glance. She pointed towards the closer shore, raising her eyebrows. “That way.” 

He didn’t have a smart response to that, so he just began making his way towards the shore. Leia pinched her nose shut, jumping in the water. Her boots sank into the muck, and she made a sound of disgust. The more planets that she visited, the more that she decided that she had judged Tatooine too harshly as a teenager. That warm, dry desert was paradise compared to this swamp. She tugged her feet from the mud, splashing towards the shore. Neither of them noticed the large fin emerge from the water behind Artoo. 

Leia used one of the giant roots to heave herself onto the shore, grunting as she struggled onto the ground. It was still muddy and gross, but anything was better than being in the swamp itself. She pushed herself to her feet, turning back to check on Artoo. 

She had scarcely found his little periscope in the water before he was sharply pulled under the water, shrieking loudly. Leia yelled his name, whipping out her blaster and searching the water, hoping to see a shadow or a splash that would give away the creature’s position. For a long moment, there was nothing. Did the creatures on this planet really eat metal? That was a horrifying thought. 

Evidently, the creature decided that Artoo was not the delicious snack that it had been hoping for, because her droid suddenly exploded from the water with a splash, as if blasted from a cannon. 

[FUUUUUUUUUCK!] He screamed as he soared through the air. Leia watched him go, her mouth slightly open. That was certainly not what she had expected, but at least he was out of the water now. Artoo crashed ungracefully in a tangle of roots further inland, beeping irritable curse words at Leia. 

“You alright Artoo?” She called, jogging over to where he had landed. He was upside down, his little legs wiggling uselessly in the air. She bit back a laugh at his state, settling for heaving him to his feet. “Anything broken?”

Luckily, nothing was permanently damaged. He seemed to be alright, if a little pissy about being eaten and spat back out. 

[I  _ told  _ you coming here was a bad idea,] he grumbled. Leia rolled her eyes. Was this the time for an “I told you so”?

“You’re going to want to be careful with your sass, droid,” she told him affectionately, wiping off the roots and slime from his parts. “I might just leave half this gunk on you and you can ask Han to clean you off.”

[Oh, bite me.]

“You just got bitten, you really want it to happen again?” 

[Shut up and clean my camera off, I can’t see.]

She shook her head, wiping off his viewing camera. She glanced around the jungle, shivering. Something about this place was oddly familiar, not as if she had seen it before, but as if someone had told her exactly what it was like. She only remembered Ben telling her about Dagobah, so why did she almost recognize the gnarled roots and tangled vines around her?

[What are we even doing here, Leia?] Artoo asked, dejectedly spitting out a stream of green water from his cranial ports. 

“I don’t really know,” she admitted, turning back to him and scraping algae from the cracks on his body. 

[You don’t know?] He repeated incredulously. [I almost got eaten and  _ you don’t know _ why we’re here?] 

“Ben told me to go here, but it gives me the weirdest feeling,” she said, sitting back on a particularly large root. “It’s like something out of a dream. I don’t understand why a Jedi master would live here of all places.” 

[Maybe they went crazy,] R2 suggested. He must be really upset if he was still being this pessimistic. 

“Thanks for that, Artoo.” 

  
  


Luke was slouched in the back seat of the Falcon’s cockpit, crossing his arms while he watched Han try to fix a giant mess of wires in the upper wall. The smuggler was standing on a chair in order to reach more easily, which gave Luke a perfect view of his backside. Not that he was staring. Threepio was seated in front of him, fretting quietly for the time being. 

Chewie came back inside, tugging at Han’s shirt and growling to him. Han cursed. 

“We’re gonna have to shut everything down except the emergency power,” he said, nodding to Chewie. 

“Sir, I’m afraid to ask,” Threepio said anxiously, peering over the back of his chair. “But does that include shutting me down too?” 

Chewie nodded vigorously, but Han waved him aside. 

“No, I need you to talk to the Falcon, find out what’s wrong with the hyperdrive,” he said, grinning darkly at the droid, who seemed even more worried at the idea of having to actually do something. 

Chewie had just grabbed Threepio to drag him out when the ship suddenly lurched. Han barely avoided falling, Threepio shrieked, waving his arms wildly. Chewie clung to the droid’s torso to keep him on his feet, roaring in annoyance. Luke just closed his eyes, his knuckles white, wishing it would be over. 

Once the shaking subsided, they all waited for a moment, before Threepio broke the silence. 

“Sir, it’s quite possible this asteroid is not entirely stable,” he reported. With great restraint, Luke managed not to roll his eyes. Han didn’t have anywhere near that level of self control. 

“Not entirely stable?” He drawled sarcastically, giving the droid a mockingly wide eyed look. “I’m glad you’re here to tell us these things.” He dropped into a scowl, jerking his thumb to the doorway. “Chewie, take the professor in the back and plug him into the hyperdrive.” 

Threepio was affronted, and complained the whole way as Chewie dragged him into the back. The doors slid off, thankfully muffling his whining voice. Luke rubbed his temple, standing to see if he could be of any help to Han. Sitting around in this cave was going to drive him mad. 

The ship sharply lurched again as soon as he had made his way to his feet. This time, Han fell off the chair altogether. Luke tried to catch him, but the weight of the larger man knocked him straight to the ground. He grunted as the air was forced out of his lungs, groaning. 

“How many times in one day can you possibly fall on top of me?” He groaned, trying to sit up. 

“Shh!” Han snapped, covering his mouth and looking up. There was a low rumbling outside, but neither of them could possibly fathom what it was. Wide eyed, Luke scanned the windows of the cockpit, worried that there was something else in the cave with them. How many problems could they possibly have in one day?

Several moments passed, with nothing else. And yet, Han still hadn’t gotten off of him. 

“Would you get off me?” He snapped, looking up at Han. The smuggler glanced down at him, and suddenly Luke’s difficulty breathing had little to do with the weight on his chest. It had been awhile since they were that close. Han’s eyes had always seemed green from a distance, but here, he could see they were a true hazel. It was beautiful. Suddenly he didn’t quite mind lying on the ground like this. 

Of course, Han had to go and ruin the moment. 

“Don’t get too excited,” he warned, a smug look crossing his face, as if he knew exactly what kind of effect he was having on the prince. Luke scowled. That little shit. 

“You overestimate your ability to get me excited, Captain,” he replied coldly, shoving at him. Han barely budged, only smiling down at him. 

“Give me a little time, your highness,” he said smoothly, brushing a lock of hair from Luke’s forehead. “I’m sure I can figure something out.” 

With that, he stood, taking Luke’s hand and hauling him to his feet. Luke was too shell shocked by the last comment to come up with a witty response, and could only stare open mouthed as the smuggler blew him a kiss and sauntered out of the cockpit. Luke screeched in frustration after he was gone, crossing his arms and slamming back into the chair. One of these days, he was going to strangle that pirate. 

  
  


Once Artoo had stopped cursing Leia out (for the most part at least), she went back to their halfway submerged X-Wing to gather some supplies. As long as it was in there, they weren’t getting out of here. They needed to make camp for the night. 

“I got the power unit,” she reported, setting it on one of their cases. It glowed with a warm, orange light, which added a little brightness to the foreboding dark of the jungle. The mist seemed to clear slightly, but their surroundings were still largely obscured. 

[About goddamn time,] Artoo grumbled. [I told you to bring it on the first trip.] 

“You’re welcome, you old pile of bolts,” she responded, plugging him in. “I hope you’ll be a little less grouchy once you’re fully powered up.”

The droid grumbled a quiet thanks. He was still a little pissy, but he knew when to let up a bit. Leia smiled, rubbing his dome affectionately. She loved the old droid, even if he did curse worse than every Rebellion soldier put together. 

“Now all we have to do is find Yoda,” she sighed, standing. “If he even exists.” 

This was such an odd place to find a Jedi master. Why would they come here? Shouldn’t they be somewhere more peaceful, like a temple? Something more elegant, suited to the legends that Ben had told Leia about when she was young. 

[If he’s here, we’ll find him somehow,] Artoo beeped encouragingly, clearly in a much better mood now that he was getting charged.

Leia sank down onto one of the suitcases, pulling her mealtin out of a bag. She turned, eyeing the vines around them suspiciously. She had the most uncomfortable feeling about this place, an uneasy feeling that seemed to sit on her chest. She couldn’t shake it. Distantly, she recalled the feeling that Luke had described whenever Vader was around him while he was on the Death Star, like a cold that seeped into his bones. This wasn’t quite the same, but his description echoed in the back of her mind as she looked into the shadows and tendrils of mist around them. 

“This place is creepy,” she decided, taking a bite of a roll. “Still, it kind of seems familiar.” She shook her head, unable to quite place it. “I don’t know. It feels like–”

“Feels like what?” A strange voice asked, from directly behind Leia. 

Never known for her self control, Leia immediately whipped out her blaster and fired directly at whatever had spoken. She had impeccable aim, and knew she would hit whatever it was. That confidence in her skill made it all the more confusing when the smoke cleared and a little green creature was still curled up on the branch behind them, holding his hands defensively in front of his face. 

[What the fuck?] Artoo beeped panickedly. Leia frowned at the creature, her mouth open in confusion. She hit it, she knew that she had hit it. She felt bad about the whole thing, but she knew she had. The creature was cowering, but completely unharmed. 

“Away put your weapon!” The creature shrieked. “I mean you no harm.”

The little thing clearly wasn’t a threat. He was tiny, dressed in old rags. His long green ears twitched slightly as he raised his face to peer at them. He just seemed to be a small, old alien. Leia had seen all different types come through Mos Eisley, but she hadn’t ever met a creature like this. While most of the things in this place felt dark and cold, he had a warm, calming feeling. 

“I am wondering, why are you here?” He asked, looking at Leia inquisitively. 

She slowly lowered her weapon, not entirely understanding why. “I’m looking for someone.”

“Looking?” He giggled, his eyes dancing with a young mirth that seemed out of place on his old face. “Found someone, you have, I would say, hm?” 

Ah, that explained it. He was just crazy. Leia holstered her blaster, snorting. “Right.”

Finding someone was not the same as finding someone helpful. She started to turn away, hoping that the crazy old alien would find his way back to wherever he lived without bothering her any further. Artoo was strangely quiet, which was confusing for her. He usually enjoyed making fun of old aliens that couldn’t understand his beeping for the cursing that it was. 

“Help you, I can,” the creature added, drawing her gaze back to him and away from Artoo. He nodded vigorously, which didn’t do much to boost her confidence in him. “Yes, hmm.” 

“I don’t think so,” she told him, shaking her head condescendingly. “I’m looking for a great warrior.” 

She had expected the comment to make the little frog scurry away, but he only chortled, carefully using his cane to make his way down the branch towards their campsite. 

“Ah, a great warrior,” he laughed. He shook his head. “Wars not make one great.” He continued giggling about the comment even as he moved about the campsite. Leia shook her head, standing to put the blaster away. If this creature could survive so easily here, so could they. She and Artoo probably weren’t in any danger for the evening. 

When she turned back to address the creature again, she found him eating her dinner. He had crawled up onto one of the boxes, munching on one of the rolls. 

“Hey!” She snapped, going over and snatching the roll away. “Get your own dinner, froggie.” 

“How you get so big, eating food of this kind?” The creature asked, unfazed by her comment. He immediately crawled onto the boxes as she pulled her dinner tray from him, angrily munching on a fresh roll. This thing was annoying her more every moment. 

“Look, you can’t come in here and start eating someone else’s food,” she snapped. She didn’t have time for this, she just needed to find Yoda and get off this stupid, creepy planet already. “Go find someone else to annoy.” 

“Ahh.” The creature made an oddly muffled sound of interest. When Leia turned back, she found him halfway crawling into one of her containers, tossing items aside as he rummaged through it. The sight nearly made her spit out the bite of the roll she had just taken. 

“I can’t take my eyes off you for a minute!” She said exasperatedly, shaking her head. Ugh, she sounded just like Aunt Beru. She went over and scooped him up, pulling him from the container before he could toss any more of her stuff on the ground. 

The creature giggled, waving around a tiny power lamp. Great, he found something he liked. If he was anything like her as a child, he wouldn’t be giving it up anytime soon. But they needed every source of light that they could get in this place. 

“You’ve made a mess,” she sighed, setting him down on the ground and picking up the items he had tossed away. She reached for the lamp. “Now give me that!” 

“Mine!” He snapped back, backing up against Artoo. Artoo’s lights were flashing wildly, but he wasn’t beeping. It was so strange; Leia was used to him never shutting up. “Or I will help you not!” 

“How could you possibly help me?” Leia shot back, reaching to snatch away the lamp again. Behind the creature, Artoo slowly extended a reacher claw, almost silently. “So far you’ve only made a mess of my camp, eaten my food, and tried to steal my things!” 

In that moment, Artoo reached out and grabbed the power lamp. Instantly, a tug of war ensued. The creature was affronted by the attempt to take his toy, screeching, “Mine, mine!” 

While Artoo usually would have been screeching right back, he was silent as he struggled to yank away the power lamp. His lights flashed, as if he was angry or distressed, but he was silent as the grave. Something was off here, but Leia couldn’t quite figure out what. 

“Forget it, Artoo,” she said, waving him off. He was acting too weird. “He’s obviously going to keep it.”

The creature gave Artoo a few final whacks with his cane for good measure even after the droid released the lamp, glaring at him distastefully. 

“Tell her yet, you cannot,” he informed the droid, tapping him lightly with the cane. For a moment, the laughter faded, and he almost seemed serious. “In time, all in time.” He giggled wildly, turning away. 

Leia frowned, tilting her head. What the hell was that supposed to mean? Looking at the little creature act all pleased with his newly acquired lamp, she decided she didn’t care. She just wanted him and his crazy sayings gone. 

“Just get out of here,” she snapped, waving him away. “Keep the lamp, but go away.” 

“No, no, no,” the creature protested, looking up at Leia. With the low angle of the lamplight on his face, he almost looked spooky, which was an accomplishment with the goofy giggling that he just couldn’t seem to stop. “Stay and help you, I will. Find your friend, hmm?” 

Leia squatted down, her lips pressed together as she tried to figure out how to most politely tell this little creature to fuck off. Luke had been trying to get her to control her anger around other people, since she had a habit of “breaking the spirit” of everyone that pissed her off in the Rebellion. While many of those people needed to get told the truth, in her opinion, she had promised Luke that she would work on it. He wouldn’t stop droning on about politics until she did, so she didn’t have a choice. 

“You won’t be able to help,” she said bluntly. “I’m looking for a Jedi master.” 

The creature’s eyes lit up, and he tapped Leia lightly on the shoulder, making a noise of understanding. 

“Oh, Jedi master?” He confirmed, his ears wiggling in what Leia assumed was happiness. “Yoda. You seek Yoda!” 

Well, that was unexpected. 

Leia stared at him for a long moment, her mouth dropped open. This little green frog that had trashed her camp knew a Jedi master? How was that even possible? Was the company available on this planet that bad? 

“You,” she repeated. “You know him?” 

“Mmhm.” The creature nodded, looking quite pleased with himself. Was he a little smug? He seemed a little smug. “Take you to him, I will.” He burst out into another fit of laughter. 

Leia couldn’t fathom how her life had come to this. She was on the grossest planet on the planet, relying on the help of a giggly old frog to take her to the Jedi master that her former Jedi master had ordered her to find while she was half frozen. Lovely. She forced a smile, wishing that she had someone more reliable to help her right now. 

“Yes, yes,” the creature continued, starting to waddle away, giggling all the while. Leia would have been grateful if she wasn’t having to follow him. “But now, we must eat. Come, good food, come.” 

“Are you sure we can’t find Yoda first, and then eat?” She protested, scrambling to clip her lightsaber onto her belt. She dug through her bag, pulling it out. By the time she looked back, the creature was somehow halfway across the swamp. The little lamplight was all she could see of him in the thick fog. 

“Come, come,” he called, completely ignoring her protests. He waddled across the swamp, suspiciously slow for how quickly he had disappeared. 

She sighed. “Yoda had better turn me into the greatest Jedi in the galaxy, for all I’m doing with this little guy.” She turned to Artoo, who was managing to make distressed beeps and squeaks, but nothing coherent. She frowned. Maybe it was the swamp messing up his system. “Stay here and watch the camp, Artoo.” 

With that, she jogged off after the surprisingly fast creature that apparently held her future as a Jedi in his hands. 

  
  


With so many parts of the ship in disarray, Luke eventually found something to do. Since he was still miffed with Han, he dedicated his time to angrily fixing the couplings. They were in a small side corridor, which gave him a little privacy. Chewie had taught him some repair work while they were stranded on one of their missions, so he was perfectly able to do so without help. It was one of the smaller skills that he had learned in the Rebellion, one he was quite proud of. 

He held protective goggles over his eyes while using one of the small welding tools to fix a piece of machinery. At this point, everything was muscle memory, which gave his mind plenty of time to fume about a certain smuggler. 

After Han had stayed to get him off of Hoth, Luke had wondered if he had changed his mind about leaving. After all, Han definitely never wanted his friends on the same planet as Jabba the Hutt. With Luke on the Falcon, they wouldn’t be going anywhere near Tatooine. Admittedly, they weren’t going anywhere at the moment so there was that. 

Although Han never said that he was staying, Luke had hoped. Like an idiot, he hoped. But Han hadn’t grown up enough to be able to show any real kind of affection for him, he was just playing around with his feelings. It was always hints, teasing, little moments of kindness. Nothing substantial. 

He finished with the welding, neatly hanging up the goggles and setting down the tool. Familiar footsteps approached from behind. Not Chewie’s rumbling gait or the clanking of Threepio’s metal feet. That left one person. 

Steadfast on ignoring him, Luke focused on trying to pull the lever to get the system up and running again. It didn’t budge. He grit his teeth, struggling to get it to turn. 

Hands reached around his shoulders, reaching for the lever. Oh, that was a cheap move. Luke elbowed him, shoving him backwards and shooting him a venomous look. He would rather struggle with this until the Empire found them than accept Han’s help. 

“Hey, your worship!” Han snapped, stepping back and looking down at Luke irritably. “I’m only trying to help.” 

“Would you please stop calling me that?” Luke said, struggling with the lever on his own. His unhappiness was clear in his voice, and Han’s eyes softened a little as he regarded the prince. 

“Sure, Luke,” he replied quietly, leaning against the wall. Luke rolled his eyes. Of course he wasn’t leaving. That would be too kind of him. 

“You drive me insane,” he muttered irritably. He adjusted his grip, struggling to pull the lever again. Nothing. 

“I do, I really do.” Han actually sounded a bit smug as he said that. “But you could be a little nicer too.”

Luke scoffed. He was always nice. He was the nicest person on the base. Leia was a terror, Han a sarcastic menace, but Luke was well liked by everyone, and for good reason. He was a  _ delight _ . The only person he lost his temper with was… well, Han. 

“Come on, admit it,” Han urged, nudging his shoulder. “Sometimes you think I’m all right.” 

Luke gave up on the lever, for now. His hands were aching from grabbing onto it so hard, so he gave himself a break, turning towards Han as he rubbed his sore hands. He probably should have worn gloves. 

“Occasionally, maybe,” he admitted. “When you’re not acting like a scoundrel.” 

He had meant it as an insult, but Han’s face lit up at the last word. He grinned, taking Luke’s hand and massaging it, his calloused fingers surprisingly gentle. For a moment, Luke was too caught up in the feeling to yank his hands away. He couldn’t let Han do this to him again. 

“Scoundrel?” He laughed, raising his eyebrows at Luke. His voice softened, and he stepped closer. Luke pulled back, but Han just followed. “Scoundrel. I like the sound of that.”

“It wasn’t a compliment,” Luke said dryly. He tried to tug his hand out of Han’s grip, as nice as it felt. 

“You like me because I’m a scoundrel,” Han continued, his voice soft and warm. Luke’s heart fluttered, but he tried not to show it. Han could probably see it anyways. His cold political exterior was far, far away right now, and every feeling danced right across his features. “There aren’t enough scoundrels in your life, Prince Luke.” 

“I happen to like nice men,” Luke shot back, wiggling his hand from Han’s grip. 

“I’m a nice man,” Han whispered, taking Luke’s cheek and leaning in, his eyes fluttering shut. 

Luke abruptly shoved Han backwards, pinning him against the opposite wall with one arm braced across his chest and the other on his chin, firmly holding him in place. It was a little trick that Leia had taught him for the next time that Han tried to screw with him, and he was delighted that it had come in handy. She would be so proud when he told her. 

Han’s eyes were wide, mostly shocked at the sudden change in the room’s atmosphere. A second ago, he had Luke cornered and was finally going to kiss him. Now he was pinned against a wall, and Luke was glaring up at him with sparks in those gorgeous blue eyes. 

“Nice men,” Luke said quietly, going up on his toes to lean close to Han’s face. The scoundrel was still firmly pinned in place, so he couldn’t sneak a fast one and try to kiss him again. “Ask.” 

With that, he turned away, haughtily brushing a hair from his forehead and leaving Han to fix the stupid lever himself. Behind him, Han was slouched against the wall, running a hand through his hair and staring at the prince as he left. Well, that was not how he had expected that to go. Still, despite the lack of a kiss and the fact that his head ached a little from being slammed against the wall, warmth spread through his chest, and a stupid smile traced across his face as he headed back to Chewie. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The lovely moment where Luke goes badass instead of the mildly rapey original scene was borrowed from the amazing Secondlina on Tumblr! They made an amazing comic with some amazing Luke Skywalker and Han Solo content, PLUS some twin swap, and on top of that, they're just an amazing artist that deserves some recognition. The moment of "Nice men ask," can be found in the comic here! Please check it out! 
> 
> https://secondlina.tumblr.com/post/181298551945/secondlina-someone-took-the-time-to-send-me-an


	4. Training and Running

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leia finds Yoda while Luke and company continue running into trouble

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! So sorry this took so long, school has been crazy. I will try to be updating regularly again soon. I saw all your wonderful comments and I'm really glad that you're all enjoying the story and want more :) Thanks for reading!!!

Surprisingly, Leia was actually grateful for the creature inviting her back to his hut. It was uncomfortably tiny, even for her, but when it started pouring rain in earnest, she was all too thankful to have somewhere dry. Artoo was still outside, peering through the window and occasionally beeping rude words. 

“Why can’t we go find Yoda now?” She demanded, hunched over in the creature’s kitchen as he cooked. The size of this hut almost made her grateful to be short; she couldn’t imagine having to hunch like this everywhere. “We don’t have time for this.”

“Patience!” He said, shaking a spoon at her. The gesture oddly reminded her of Aunt Beru. “For the Jedi, it is time to eat as well.”

He giggled delightedly. It was really strange to meet someone completely nonplussed by her anger. It left her with no real option other than to sit down and try the stew. Honestly, it couldn’t be worse than some of the crap that they had given her in the Rebellion. Carefully pulling a bowl from beneath the black and white snake on the table, she served herself some of the stew. 

“Eat, eat. Hot!” The creature continued to ramble delightedly. Leia wasn’t quite sure if he was saying it to himself or to her. “Good food, good, hm?”

She tried a sip of the stew. Surprisingly, it wasn’t awful. The flavor was odd, surprisingly spicy for a swamp planet, but decent enough. She had been expecting borderline dirt, so this was fine.

“How far away is Yoda?” she asked, taking another sip. “Will it take us long to get there?” 

“Not far, Yoda not far,” he assured her. “Patience, soon you will be with him.”

Her back currently turned to the creature, Leia rolled her eyes and mockingly mouthed “patience.” Honestly, if this frog told her to be patient one more time she was really going to lose it. 

“Rootleaf, I cook,” the creature told her, wandering past the pot altogether. “Why wish you become a Jedi, hmm, hmm?”

Leia, having just taken a mouthful of the stew, was supremely unprepared for that question. She shrugged, swallowing. It bought her a moment to quickly run through all possible answers. She had a few different reasons for wanting to be a Jedi, not many of which she was keen on sharing. She wanted revenge against the Empire for taking her family, and Ben had offered her a way to do it. She wanted to make a name for herself, to be more than just a farm girl from Tatooine. She wanted to help the Rebellion. Instead of saying that, she opted to tell the frog about what had really piqued her interest about Jedi in the first place. 

“Mostly because of my father, I guess,” she said casually, her eyes carefully trained on her bowl. She expected the creature to ask about her father, but he turned to her, nodding in understanding. 

“Ah, father,” he said, a hint of annoyance in his eyes. “Powerful Jedi, was he.” He giggled, shaking his head and turning away. “Mm, powerful Jedi.” 

Leia rolled her eyes. What the hell did a frog from a swamp planet know about her father? Why was he acting like he knew all about her?

“Oh, and you know who he is?” She snapped, sarcasm dripping from her words. “Because you absolutely know who I am? Force, why am I even here? What do you know?” 

She made a sound of frustration and slammed the empty bowl back on the table, barely missing the snake. All she wanted to do was start training to be a Jedi and get the catharsis of hitting things with a lightsaber. She was tired of sitting and waiting. 

As she sat, quietly brooding over the frustration of relying on a frog, said frog let out a long suffering sigh. He straightened, the maniac giggles fading away to leave a tired, irritated being. Without the lightheartedness, he suddenly seemed decades older. 

“I cannot teach her,” he said, not speaking to Leia. She turned to him, confused. He faced away from her, hunched over his cane and staring into nothingness. “The girl has no patience.” 

“She will learn patience,” Ben’s voice came echoing through the hut. Leia looked around, trying to find his glowing form, but all that remained was his voice. 

“Hm.” The creature did not sound convinced. He turned to Leia, looking over her with a critical gaze. “Much anger in her, like her father.”

“Was I any different when you taught me?” Ben asked. 

“No,” the creature admitted quietly. “But she is not ready.” 

Understanding dawned on Leia, and she looked at the frog that had been annoying her in a new light. This wrinkled, tiny creature was a Jedi master? This was…

“Yoda,” she whispered, awe and bewilderment on her face. He nodded sagely. All this time, the creature had been Yoda. No wonder he knew as much as he did about her. He had really known Ben, her father, all the Jedi. Then she abruptly realized that she had really fucked up a first impression here. 

“But I am ready!” She protested, looking to the nonexistent form of Ben for backup. “I can be a Jedi! Ben, tell him I’m–” She tried to stand up but knocked her head painfully on the low ceiling. “Ow.”

She rubbed her head irritably, and Yoda gave her a knowing look, as if she had just proven his point. In all fairness, she probably had. 

“Ready, are you?” He asked, raising his ears. “What know you ready?” He walked closer to the fire, turning to her with a hard look in his eyes. “For 800 years have I trained Jedi. My own counsel will I keep on who is to be trained. A Jedi must have the deepest commitment, the most serious mind.”

Yoda turned back to the spot where he had spoken to Ben, ignoring Leia for the moment. 

“This one a long time have I watched,” he said, gesturing to her with his cane. “All her life has she looked away, to the future, to the horizon. Never her mind on where she was, hm? What she was doing. Hmph.” Leia looked down, her face flushing. She knew that some of that was true. Yoda walked around her, shaking his head as he continued. “Adventure. Ha! Excitement, ha! A Jedi craves not these things.” He finally turned to her, his eyes burning into her. “You are reckless!”

“So was I, if you remember,” Ben reminded Yoda. 

“She is too old,” Yoda claimed, turning away from her. In seconds he had gone from sounding like a wise old Jedi back to a petulant child, just looking for an excuse not to train her. “Yes, too old to begin the training.”

Anger rose up in Leia. Why was Yoda so determined not to teach her? What had she done? Yes, he was spot on about her character flaws, but she still deserved a chance. 

“I can do it,” she told him, leaning forward with earnest eyes. “I’ll get better.”

Yoda considered her for a moment. She thought he was frowning, but who could really tell. She waited, watching him hopefully. This was all she ever wanted. She wanted to be a Jedi, and Yoda could show her how to do it. She could learn to be patient, to avoid recklessness. He could teach her. 

After a long moment, he turned to Ben, or at least, the empty space that Ben was currently inhabiting. 

“Will she finish what she begins?” He asked. Leia interrupted, leaning towards him. 

“I won’t fail you,” she said firmly. “I’m not afraid.”

And then Yoda smiled. It was nothing like the lighthearted and happy grins that she had seen from him earlier. This was surprisingly dark, the old and heavy knowledge of a master watching a novice. 

“Oh,” he said quietly, approaching her slowly. “You will be. You will be.”

Leia’s eyes widened, and she drew back slightly, more nervous than she cared to admit. In that moment, she didn’t doubt his words at all. 

  
  


Luke sat in the cockpit of the Falcon, listening to the distant sounds of explosions above them. He couldn’t believe that the Empire hadn’t left yet. They had been stuck in this cave for hours, and somehow Han and Chewie still hadn’t been able to fix anything. If he was stuck in here with Han for much longer, he didn’t know what he might end up doing to him. It ranged from kissing him to killing him, so there were many possibilities. 

It wasn’t that he hadn’t wanted to kiss Han, earlier. He had thought about it more than once, when they were on missions together. But he didn’t want to be just someone that Han kissed, he wanted something real. Luke knew men like that, men who just wanted to brag that they had the affections of the crown prince of Alderaan. He was not going to give Han the satisfaction. 

But a part of him was more than okay with tossing pride out the window and letting Han kiss him. With all the chaos in their lives, he was more than happy with the idea of something that would take his mind off every problem that he had to deal with in the Rebellion. No strategies, no plans, no fears, just Han. It was a nice idea, if nearly impossible. After all, Han was leaving. 

His mind had drifted into memories of his missions with Han when he heard something, something outside the cockpit. Slowly, he stood, peering out into the darkness. Was the Empire getting closer to finding them? He couldn’t see anything. 

A creature slammed onto the front window of the cockpit, squealing loudly. He screamed, scrambling backwards out of the cockpit. He didn’t stop running until he found the others again. 

“There’s something out there,” he said breathlessly. 

Han frowned up at him, lifting up the goggles that he and Chewie were both wearing. “Where?” 

“Outside, in the cave,” he explained. He wished he had something a little more detailed, but he wasn’t about to stay in the cockpit looking at that thing on his own. 

As if to prove him right, banging echoed inside the ship, coming from all different places. How many things were out there? Chewie growled, looking around. 

“There it is. Listen! Listen!” Threepio yelled, waving his arms. 

“I’m going out there,” Han decided, ripping his goggles completely off and tossing them down. Luke stared as he stalked past him. 

“Are you crazy?” 

“I just got this bucket back together, I’m not gonna let something tear it apart!” He hurried down the hall, Luke right on his heels. He snatched up a breathing mask, not even hesitating as he lowered the ramp. 

Luke hovered at the top of the ramp for a moment, staring out into the darkness. He did not want to go out there. Who knew what was living out there? They didn’t even know how dangerous these creatures were, and Han was just running into it like the idiot he was. Force, why did Luke put up with this idiot? 

“Then I’m coming with you,” he snapped, grabbing a breathing mask with far more force than necessary and following Chewie down the ramp. The air was heavy with moisture, making him grateful that he was still wearing the jacket and pants from Hoth. 

The cave was pitch black save for the dim lighting provided by the ship. Han was already outside, his blaster already in hand as he searched the area surrounding them. Chewie went around the opposite side of the ship, his bowcaster in hand. Luke only had a small blaster tucked inside his jacket, which he pulled out as he stepped out into the cave. 

“The ground sure feels strange,” he commented, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet for a moment. He had been on dozens of planets, but he had never felt anything like this. It wasn’t rock, like he expected, but something softer, like thick mud. “It’s not rock.”

“There’s an awful lot of moisture in here,” Han commented, squatting to inspect the ground. 

An uneasy feeling settled in Luke’s stomach, and he glanced around uneasily. There was something off about this place, he didn’t like it. 

“I don’t know,” he said nervously, shaking his head. He unconsciously moved closer to Han. He didn’t realize he was doing it, but Han noticed, a small smile tugging at the edges of his lips. He looked away before Luke could catch him. “I have a bad feeling about this.”

“Yeah,” Han agreed quietly. 

There was a screech from above them, and in the darkness, something moved along the Falcon. Han reacted immediately, shoving Luke behind him and firing at it. He hit it on the first try, and it dropped to the ground. Luke peered around him to take a look. It was the same thing that was on the window, but now the large leathery wings were visible as well. He disliked it on sight. 

“Yeah, that’s what thought,” Han said, nudging the dead creature with his foot. “Mynock. Chewie, check the rest of the ship, make sure there aren’t any more attached, chewing on the power cables.”

“Mynocks,” Luke echoed quietly, looking around the cave. He would be happy to not see another one of those for a long time. Han nudged him towards the ramp, his eyes gentle. 

“Go on inside,” he told him. He could tell that the prince was uncomfortable out here, which warmed his heart all the more that he wanted to stay with him, but he would rather Luke be inside and safe. “We’ll clean them off if there are any more.”

Luke hesitated a moment, looking up at Han. He didn’t want to leave him behind, not with all the mynocks out here. As if in response, a swarm of them flew over his head. He shrieked, bending down and throwing his arms over his head. Han shot one down, but there were half a dozen still flying around. To add to the chaos, the ground suddenly lurched beneath their feet. Luke barely avoided falling, clinging to the ramp mechanisms for balance. 

Han looked around, his eyes narrowing. “Wait a minute…” 

He shot the ground, and it abruptly lurched again, sending almost everyone off their feet. Realization flashed across Han’s face, and he stumbled as best he could over to the ramp. He grabbed Luke’s arm, helping him stay on his feet as they struggled up into the ship, Chewie right behind. 

“Come on Chewie, let’s get out of here!” Han shouted, yanking off his beathing mask. Chewie closed the hatch and grunted in agreement. Luke pulled off the mask, staring at Han as if he were crazy. 

“The Empire is still out there!” He called, struggling after Han towards the cockpit. They were all bouncing off the walls like pinballs; the lurching of the ship made it impossible to keep any kind of balance. “I don’t think–”

“No time to discuss this in committee,” Han interrupted. Luke immediately bristled. 

“I am  _ not _ a committee!” 

Han and Chewie were already at the front, getting the ship ready to take off and completely ignoring him. He made a sound of exasperation. “You can’t make the jump to lightspeed in this asteroid field!”

“Sit down, sweetheart, we’re taking off!” Han snapped, turning to shoot him a look before getting the ship in the air. Luke scowled. He had ranked higher than Han throughout the entire time that they had known one another, and yet the pirate always felt the need to order him around. 

Threepio came into the cockpit behind them and gasped, pointing a golden finger forward to the end of the cave. “Look!”

“I see it, I see it,” Han said. Luke squinted ahead. The light from a nearby star poured into the darkness of the cave at the entrance, but it was growing dimmer and dimmer. He abruptly realized that the entrance to the wave was closing, 

“We’re doomed!” Threepio wailed. 

“The cave is collapsing!” Luke exclaimed, his eyes wide. How did Han predict that from a few quakes? Force, he would never hear the end of this.

“This is no cave,” Han said grimly. 

“What?” Luke took another look at the collapsing white stalagmites, and realization dawned. There were teeth rising from the ground. They had been inside some kind of creature that whole time? No wonder the inside had been so odd. He practically fell into the seat behind Han, his mouth dropped open. 

They shoot between the teeth, barely avoiding being caught inside the creature. Chewie roared victoriously. While it was a relief to be out of the cave, an uneasy feeling settled in Luke’s chest. They were in open space, vulnerable to being caught by the Empire all over again. There was no easy escape, and hiding out until the Empire gave up was no longer an option. It was an impossible situation. 

  
  


Leia had trained with the Rebellion for three years, and spent her whole life working on a farm in the desert before then. She was in excellent shape and could outrun most of the guys on base. Despite all that, Yoda could really give her a workout. She hadn’t done anything this challenging in a long time. 

She hauled herself up a vine, her biceps straining as she pulled hand over hand. It would have been easier if she didn’t have a passenger; Yoda was tucked in her backpack to ride along and offer instruction. She reached a higher point in one of the trees, grabbing onto another vine and swinging her way across a small chasm to solid ground. 

“Yes, run!” Yoda encouraged as she ran through the trees, ducking under low hanging branches. “Yes! A Jedi’s strength flows from the Force.” He paused as Leia ran and leapt into a front tuck over a fallen log. She landed lightly on her feet and continued running. “But beware of the dark side. Anger, fear, aggression– the dark side of the Force are they, easily they flow, quick to join you in a fight. If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny. Consume you it will, as it did Obi-Wan’s apprentice.”

Leia paused in a clearing, taking a moment to breathe. She was grateful that she had stripped off her jacket. The tank top was much better for all this running. 

“Vader,” she responded, recalling the little that Ben had told her about the man’s past. She paused for a moment, knowing this wasn’t the right question to ask but dying to know. “Is the dark side stronger?” 

“No, no,” Yoda answered immediately. “No. Quicker easier, more seductive.” 

“How do I know the good side from the bad?” It was something that bothered Leia more than she cared to admit. Anger, that was one of her most common moods. She was the fiercest person on base. Was she more likely to turn to the dark side because of that? The Force could be so ambiguous. How would she know when she was really making the right choice, the Jedi choice? 

“You will know!” Yoda said earnestly, and Leia curled her hands into fists. Well, that was helpful. “When you are calm, at peace, passive. A Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defense, never for attack.”

“But tell me why I can’t–”

“No, no, there is no why,” Yoda interrupted. “Nothing more will I teach you today. Clear your mind of questions.”

Leia pursed her lips, unhappy with that answer. If she was supposed to use the Force for knowledge, then why couldn’t she ask questions? Besides, she didn’t agree with the master, but she knew better than to push it. She couldn’t afford to lose the only teacher she had left. But Yoda was wrong. Anger wasn’t always a bad thing. It gave her passion, drive, a determination to finish something. She never would have done anything in her life without a little anger. 

She knelt, easing Yoda off her back and onto the ground. She needed some distance from him, if only for a few moments. Her jacket was thrown haphazardly over a branch, and she pulled it back on before the chill of the air became even worse. As she zipped it up, a cold feeling washed over her, making her shiver. She glanced around, frowning. 

“Something’s not right here,” she said, uncomfortable. She got a similar feeling whenever she got too close to Vader, and she didn’t like that it was here now, just when her curiosity of the dark side had come to the surface. “I feel cold… death.”

Yoda gestured to a darkened path in the vines nearby. He was seated on the log, clearly prepared to be there for a bit. He didn’t seem any fonder of the darkness than Leia was. 

“That place, is strong with the dark side of the Force,” he explained, his voice heavy. “A domain of evil it is.” He looked up at Leia. “In you must go.”

Leia shot him a look. He just told her that it was a place of evil, and it clearly reeked of death. Now she was supposed to go inside? Was this some kind of test? To see how willing she was to explore the dark side? She crossed her arms, regarding it warily. 

“What’s in there?” She asked. 

“Only what you take with you.”

Ah, well that explained it. Would it kill Yoda drop the cryptic one liners and give her a straight answer for once? Maybe he was exactly as senile as she originally thought. 800 years of training Jedi had to take a toll eventually, right?

But he was still her master, and he had moments of wisdom that could make her rethink her entire life. So if he said to go in the cave, she would face it. But she was not going in unarmed. She picked up her belt, wrapping it around her waist. 

“Your weapons,” Yoda called. She turned back to him. He shook his head solemnly. “You will not need them.” 

She hesitated, but ultimately kept the weapons on. She would very much rather have a weapon at her disposal and not need it than need one and not have it. She grew up on Tatooine, after all. 

Nervousness flashed briefly in her chest but she pushed it down. Fear was a path to the dark side. She reached for the calmness within the light side of the Force. It was hard to find; this place was so filled with darkness. She took a deep breath to steady herself and forged through the trees. The darkness was simple to follow. The uneasy feeling was clear as day, growing stronger the further she ventured into the vines. 

She eventually came across a dark cave. The cold here was stifling, both inside and out. All the planets she had visited, nothing had felt this cold. Not even Hoth pierced her to the bones with chill and fear. It went right through her fatigues. This place was very, very wrong. She wanted to leave, to get away from this, but there was something in here that Yoda wanted her to face. Besides, Jedi did not give into fear, and Leia definitely wasn’t about to let the dark side scare her. 

A crack sounded from the other end of the cave, as if someone had just broken a twig underfoot. She tensed. What dangers were here? 

Mechanical breathing, distorted and evil, reached her ears. She took in a sharp breath, reaching for her lightsaber. No, not him. 

Vader emerged from around the corner, approaching her. She whipped out her lightsaber, igniting it and stepping into a defensive stance. She had not come this far into her training as a Jedi to lose to him now. 

Vader ignited his own lightsaber. He swung the first blow, and Leia swiftly blocked his strikes. He seemed oddly slow, his movements not matching up with the violent ferocity that she had seen from him in the past. Not taking the time to dwell on it, she seized the first opening she had, striking right at his helmet. 

An explosion of sparks lit up the cave, but there was no warmth to them. The cold was just as piercing as it had been before. Leia was half surprised that she had managed to win the fight so quickly. Vader was a deadly opponent and she was nowhere near finished with her training. 

She stared at the decapitated helmet as it rolled across the dirt, her chest heaving with exertion. She deactivated the lightsaber, her hands shaking with fear, cold, or adrenaline, she wasn’t sure which. As the focus on the fight wore off, dread set into her heart. What was this about? There was no way that Vader had found her here. 

The mask suddenly burst off the helmet, smoke curling around the edges of the metal. Her stomach twisted. Was she about to see Vader’s face? It had to be repulsive if it was behind that mask all the time, right?

But when the smoke cleared, it wasn’t an unfamiliar face. Her own brown eyes stared blankly into nothingness, her lifeless head trapped inside the helmet even in death. 

The lightsaber dropped from her hand, and she let out a choked gasp, stumbling backwards. That could not be possible, it couldn’t be real. She could never do what Vader did, she would never be like him. Her breath came short and fast, visible against the freezing cold of the cave. 

She stared at her decapitated head until it faded away with the mist. Nothing remained of her vision except for the trembling traveling all through her body. Her hands curled into fists as she tried to calm herself. She wasn’t going to be Vader. He killed her father. He destroyed Luke’s home planet, his family. He haunted the nightmares of both her and her best friend. She wouldn’t let her anger get the better of her. 

“I will be a Jedi,” she whispered to the darkness. It was a promise to herself and to her father. She would never become like the man who killed him. If only to spite whatever haunted this place that preyed on her fears, she gave it a dirty look and an incredibly rude gesture before heading back to the clearing.

  
  


Luke hated being right. Shortly after they escaped the cave, a star destroyer had found them. It stayed right on their tail, no matter what evasive maneuvers Han and Chewie tried. The shields were holding up against the barrage of green laser fire, but they wouldn’t last forever. 

“Thank goodness we’re coming out of that asteroid field,” Threepio said, surprisingly cheerful given the circumstances. Evidently the Empire was a better option than a giant asteroid worm for him. Luke had to disagree. 

The Falcon shuddered as it took blast after blast from the star destroyer. Luke desperately clung to his seat as they lurched to the side. He didn’t see any good escape route out of this, and his mind had immediately jumped to the worst possible circumstances. But they had several hours worth of repair time in the cave. Maybe Han actually managed to fix the lightspeed. 

“Let’s get out of here,” Han said. Luke relaxed a bit. Oh thank goodness. “Ready for lightspeed? One, two, three!”

He pulled the lever with complete confidence, but the engine only made a sad sound of defeat. Luke groaned, slouching in his seat in a manner that would have given his mother a heart attack. Of course this absolute wreck of a ship couldn’t get them out. 

“That’s not fair,” Han muttered, staring at the dashboard as if it had betrayed him. His confidence had been completely wiped away. Chewie roared loudly and smacked him with a paw. Luke felt that he definitely deserved it. “Transfer circuits aren’t working. It’s not my fault!”

Chewie continued to growl and groan, covering his face with his hands. 

“So, no lightspeed?” Luke asked tiredly. He almost expected it at this point. The Millenium Falcon never could have a clean getaway. 

“It’s not my fault!” Han said again, turning and shooting him a wounded look. Luke had zero sympathy. 

“Your ship, your problem, Captain,” he muttered. 

The ship lurched to the side again as they took more hits from the star destroyer. Warning lights flashed behind Chewie along the wall. 

“Sir, we just lost the main rear deflection shield,” Threepio reported. “One more direct hit on the back quarter and we’re done for!” 

Han didn’t hesitate. He leapt out of his seat, his eyes sparkling with an assuredly stupid plan. Luke had seen that maniac look plenty of times when they went on missions together. This could kill them or save them. 

“Turn her around!” He ordered Chewie. The Wookiee roared in protest. Han moved behind him, flicking a few switches on the side of the wall. “I said turn her around! I’m going to put all power in the front shield.” 

“You’re going to attack them?” Luke yelped. He knew Han had come up with many stupid plans in his time, but this was a new level of stupid. The Falcon was a barely functional freighter. The star destroyer was a first class military vessel roughly twenty times bigger than them. 

“Sir, the odds of surviving a direct assault on an Imperial Star Destroyer–” Threepio protested. 

“Threepio, not helping!” Luke snapped. He tried not to snap at the droid too often; it was just his programming that made him an anxious wreck, and Luke understood being an anxious wreck. But whenever Threepio listed the mathematical odds of their deaths, it just made his anxiety spike further. They didn’t need that right now. 

He closed his eyes as Han brought the ship towards the star destroyer. They twisted around the front window, spinning wildly alongside the bigger ship. No matter what the odds actually were, he was absolutely sure that this was going to kill them. 

  
  


After the scare in the cave during her training, Leia was almost glad that her next assignment was holding a seemingly eternal handstand.

She was perfectly balanced, Yoda standing on her left foot. Her wrists burned from the pain of holding the handstand, but her eyes were closed, still calmness holding her up with ease. 

“Use the Force,” Yoda instructed. He tapped her leg with the cane, and she lifted a hand, balancing on one and stretching out her free leg to hold herself in place. The comforting warmth of the Force flowed through her, helping her balance and giving her tired muscles the strength to stay still. Yoda let her hold the position for a moment as she took deep breaths, keeping her mind in a serene, meditative state. 

Surprisingly, she rather liked using the Force like this. She preferred the more active parts of being a Jedi, like lightsaber practice and running through the jungle. The mental aspects of it came less easily to her. It required a calm mind and concentration, neither of which she could maintain for long periods of time. This exercise was a combination. She could trust both the Force and her own strength to stay still. It was quite calming. 

“Now, the stone,” he said. Leia opened her eyes, reaching through the Force to lift the stone into the air and gently set it across another. It didn’t balance perfectly on its own, so she had to use the Force to keep it in place as well. 

Frantic beeping interrupted her calm. Her arms trembled, the stone falling as she lost her connection to the Force. 

“Concentrate!” Yoda yelled, but it was too late. He, Leia, and the stone all tumbled to the ground at once, landing painfully on the hard packed dirt. 

“Artoo!” Leia yelled, groaning as she pulled herself to her feet. “You broke my–”

[Our ship is sinking, dumbass] Artoo snapped, wiggling to the edge of the bank. 

Leia looked up, her heart sinking. A single edge of one of her wings was visible in the mist of the swamp. The rest of the ship had sunk down, almost completely into the muck of the swamp. She groaned, putting her face in her hands. How the hell was she going to get out of here now? 

“Great, I’m never going to get it out of that muck,” she sighed, walking to the edge beside Artoo. They were so fucked. 

“So certain are you,” Yoda sighed. He had hauled himself to his feet, shaking his head and looking down. “Hear you nothing I say?”

Right, the Force. It was a big step up from lifting rocks, but she was never one to back down from a challenge. Leia took a breath, slowly turning back to the X-Wing. She reached out towards it with both hands, closing her eyes and finding the calm warmth of the Force. She let it flow through her, connecting to it. The ship wobbled slightly against the mud, beginning to rise through the swamp.

Drawing strength from the Force was a gradual process. She forced herself to stay calm, pushing away the frustration that naturally rose up in response to the agonizingly slow process of lifting the ship. She couldn’t give into anger. She took slow, deep breaths, her arms straining with the effort. Her eyes fluttered open, hoping to see how much she had lifted it so far. 

Half of one wing was visible from the mist, barely anything. Anger flashed hotly in her chest. How was she working so hard and barely anything was coming out of the water? Her hands closed into fists. 

A dark power surged through her with the anger, and the ship abruptly rose another foot out of the water. It was power like nothing she had ever felt. It only required half the effort to pull the ship up. If she wanted to, she could have used that anger to pull the ship from the water with ease. For a split second, she considered it. 

Leia’s eyes widened as she suddenly realized what this was. This was the dark side of the Force. Her anger and frustration at the struggle had drawn the dark side, exactly as Yoda had predicted. It was so alluring, so easy. And she had gone to it like a moth to flame. 

“No!” She shouted, dropping her hands and yanking out of the darkness as quickly as she could. She stumbled backwards, tripping over a root and falling back. The ship dropped into the water as if cut from strings, sending a wave splashing over the roots on the shoreline. Artoo shrieked, quickly rolling backwards to safety. 

Leia’s chest heaved with panic and exertion, and she stared at the ship as it slowly sunk into the muck once more. She couldn’t believe it. She had been so determined to avoid the dark side and here she was, blatantly giving into it. 

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, running a hand over her eyes. She had failed. 

There was a shuffle as Yoda made his way over beside her. She couldn’t find it in herself to move. What more could she do? 

“I tried, but I failed.”

“No,” Yoda said, whacking her lightly on the shoulder with his cane. “Try not. Do. Or do not. There is no try.”

“Well, apparently, I did not,” Leia snapped, sitting up. “I didn’t mean to, it just… happened.”

There was a beat of silence. Yoda sighed, lowering himself to sit on a log beside her. For a moment, they just watched the X-Wing sink below the murky surface of the water. Feeling a little hopeless, Leia spoke up.

“I don’t want to turn to the dark side,” she said quietly. She pulled one leg up to her chest, resting an elbow on her knee. “But it sometimes feels like it comes to this stuff, I can’t keep my calm long enough.”

“In the end, cowards are those who follow the dark side,” Yoda said. She turned to him, wondering if this was a pep talk or if he was calling her a coward. “A coward are you, Leia Skywalker?” 

“No!” She snapped, on instinct. Everyone assumed the tiny girl was the weak or scared one back when she was on Tatooine. It was part of the reason she was so used to defending her character whenever someone dared to suggest that she was afraid. “I’ve got my share of issues, but I’m not a coward.”

“Then follow the dark side, you may not,” Yoda said, offering her a small smile. “But learn to control your anger, you must.” 

She nodded. That was definitely something she needed to work on. But she was Leia Skywalker, Terror of Tatooine. She could handle it. It wouldn’t be easy.

“It’s going to be hard,” she admitted. 

“Patience you must have, young padawan,” Yoda told her. “Learn you will, with the help of the Force. A powerful ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter.” He pinched the muscle of her shoulder. “You must feel the Force around you. Here, between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere! Give you strength, it will.” 

Doubt flickered across Leia’s face. She hadn’t been able to successfully use the Force to pull the ship out herself. Maybe that kind of strength existed, but she wasn’t sure if she had it. 

“Hmph.” Yoda didn’t seem pleased with her response. He reached out a hand, his eyes closing in focus. Leia’s eyes lit up. She hadn’t seen anything powerful from him, only hints of the incredible master that he was. 

Bubbles rose to the surface of the water. He raised his head, his face a mask of concentration. As Leia watched openmouthed, the X-Wing rose from the water. Moss and plants hung off the wings, but it was out of the water, floating effortlessly across the expanse of the swamp. She scrambled to her feet, stepping off to the side so the ship could slowly make its way to the ground. She laughed in amazement, excitement lighting up her eyes. The X-Wing settled gently on the mud. She ran a hand over the nose of her ship, delighted to have her baby back. 

“Amazing,” she said, grinning. She walked over to Yoda, smiling at him. With a master like him, she wouldn’t turn. He could help her. “I’m ready to go again, master.”

  
  


“Captain Solo, this time you have gone too far!” 

Chewbacca roared at the stupid droid to shut up, but Threepio was on a roll and he was not stopping. Luke rubbed his temples tiredly. Threepio had been complaining about the situation for the past hour. They were hidden out of the sensor range, tucked neatly against the star destroyer. It was bold, incredibly risky. In other words, peak Han Solo. It was destined to drive Threepio nuts. 

“No, I will not be quiet, Chewbacca,” He protested, waving his arms wildly. “Why doesn't anyone listen to me?”

“The fleet is beginning to break up,” Han commented, completely ignoring the droid. He gestured to the back, tapping Chewie. “Go back and stand by the manual release for the landing claw.”

Chewie roared in response and quickly made his way out of the cockpit. Luke hid a smile with his hand. The Wookiee was clearly just happy to be away from Threepio’s nonstop chattering and complaints. 

“I really don't see how that is going to help,” he fretted. “Surrender is a perfectly acceptable alternative in extreme circumstances. The Empire may be gracious enough–”

Luke switched off his droid. His mother used to do it often whenever Threepio was going on and on. He tried to avoid doing it, he did care for him, but sometimes they just needed him to hush. 

“Thank you,” Han said tiredly, leaning over to flick a switch on Chewie’s side of the cockpit. 

Luke slid into the Wookiee’s vacated seat, turning to look at Han. He was actually quite impressed with the idea of hiding here, but her wasn’t about to tell him as much. “What’s our next move?”

“Well, if they follow standard Imperial procedure, they’ll dump their garbage before they go to lightspeed, then we just float away,” he said, leaning back in his seat. A smile tugged at the side of Luke’s mouth. Perfect. 

“And after that?” He asked. 

“Then we’ve got to find a safe port somewhere around here.” Han clicked a few buttons on the ship’s computer. He glanced over at Luke. “Any ideas?” 

“Where are we?”

“The Anoat system.”

Luke thought back to his lessons. Now that the Senate was dissolved, his knowledge of systems wasn’t as good as it had been. He didn’t have as much practice discussing with other diplomats since most of his time was dedicated to the Rebellion now. It only had two major planets, neither or which were good options. Not many big societies. 

“There’s not much out there,” he admitted. 

“No,” Han agreed, his eyes focused on the computer. “Well wait, this is interesting. Lando.”

“Han, there’s not a Lando system.” Luke may have been out of practice, but he knew very well that there wasn’t a Lando system. 

“He’s a man,” he explained. “Lando Calrissian. He’s a card player, gambler, scoundrel. You’d like him.”

“Sounds like you love him,” Luke teased dryly. Han didn’t seem amused. “Where is he?”

“Bespin. It’s pretty far but I think we can make it.”

A memory flickered in the back of Luke’s mind. He had heard of Bespin before. It was a gas planet, he was fairly certain. “The mining colony, right?”

“Yeah, a Tibanna gas mine,” Han checked the computer, grinning. “Lando conned somebody out of it. We go back a long way, Lando and me.”

Luke narrowed his eyes. So, Lando was an old friend from Han’s smuggling days. There was no way that was going to end well. Two con men who had definitely screwed each other over a few times? It was a disaster waiting to happen. 

“Can we trust him?

“No,” Han responded instantly. Yeah, that was what Luke had thought. “But he has no love for the Empire, I can tell you that.”

Chewie growled over the intercom as the star destroyer began to move beneath them, sliding the doors open to release the garbage. Han leaned to look out the window, carefully timing out the detachment. 

“Here we go, Chewie,” Han said into the intercom. “Stand by. Detach!”

And slowly, they floated off into space along with the rest of the Imperial garbage. Luke grinned as they slowly drifted away, completely unsuspected by the star destroyer. He had to admit, it was a beautiful plan. 

“You certainly have your moments, scoundrel,” he said. On impulse, he leaned across the cockpit, giving him a light kiss on the cheek. “Not many of them, but they happen every now and then.” 

With that, he moved back to his place behind Han, knowing that Chewie would be wanting his seat back. He didn’t see Han break into a stupidly wide grin as they gunned the engines towards Bespin.


	5. Anxiety or the Force? Who can tell?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leia ditches the Jedi and Luke has a real bad day. Lots of angst, but at least Lando is cool

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for my chapter titles. I never know what to call them so they usually just end up being complete nonsense. Also fair warning I wrote this at 1am so there WILL by typos I missed and y'all are just gonna have to forgive me.

Leia was actually getting good at this. 

Yoda had spent hours instructing her on how to keep her mind calm, droning on and on with surprisingly wise instructions that varied in usefulness. She committed each one to memory, reciting them in her mind as she carried Yoda through the makeshift training course. Once she had lost track of how many laps they had done, they had returned to Artoo. 

She held another handstand, her eyes closed and her breathing slow and even. Yoda had made the smart choice to sit on a nearby log this time, instructing her from a safe distance. Using the Force, she lifted up several cases of equipment from the ground, slow and steady. With every attempt, it became easier, more natural, to lift objects using the Force. 

As an additive measure to her training, Artoo was doing what he did best: firing endless insults at her. 

[You aim worse than a stormtrooper,] he beeped at her, clearly searching his memory for all his recordings of events that pissed her off. [And you blew up the Death Star on pure luck.]

The goal of this particular exercise was to help her only use the light side of the Force, even when things did anger her. Few people could push her buttons like Artoo, so Yoda had enlisted him for help. As a mild form of revenge, she used the Force to lift him up as well. 

[Hold the fuck up!] He shrieked, kicking his legs wildly. [Skywalker, you little shit, put me down!]

Leia delightedly ignored him. Every time her anger rose in response to the insults, she only reached further into the calming warmth of the Force. Slow, even breathing. The beautiful twin sunsets of Tatooine. Even picturing Luke standing beside her made her feel calm, at peace. The thoughts of her friends, even if they were far away with the Rebellion by now, made her feel calm. They grounded her. Luke, Han, Chewie. They would never let her turn to the dark side; they loved her too much. 

“Concentrate,” Yoda said between Artoo’s insults. “Feel the Force flow. Yes. Good. Calm, yes. Through the Force, things you will see. Other places. The future, the past. Old friends long gone.”

Images flashed through Leia’s mind, hazy against the pale blue light of the Force. Voices filtered through the nothingness, barely audible. She focused harder, trying to see more of the visions. She could make out silhouettes, familiar voices. Slowly, they sharpened, becoming clearer in her mind. 

There was a giant city floating above the clouds. Brilliant colors were painted across the clouds, wrapping the city in a stunning glow of pink and orange and gold. Despite the beauty of the city, a cold feeling of dread tinged the edges of the vision. 

Then the city was gone, and her deep breathing turned to a strangled gasp as she recognized Han. He was strapped against something she didn’t recognize, surrounded by shadowy figures. She watched, horror mounting in her chest, as he was lowered forward onto something that glowed a menacing crimson. Then the screaming began, loud piercing cries that ripped her heart out. She had never heard Han make that kind of sound. She never wanted to again. 

“Han,” she whispered, her voice shaking. 

Another vision overtook the one of Han’s torture, and his screams faded away. This time, she saw Luke. He was sitting in a tall white chair, his trembling hands locked into binders. She wasn’t sure what was happening to him, but he was hunched over, which he never did when he was happy; he was so obsessed with posture. Silent tears ran down his face. His fear radiated cold through the Force. She could almost hear his heart pounding. 

“Luke,” she whispered, terrified for him. The only thing that could make Luke that scared was the Empire. His greatest fear was being captured again. When they shared a room in their last base, she had woken him up from dozens of nightmares where he was back with Darth Vader. Just as the thought crossed her mind, she saw a black gloves hand come down harshly on Luke’s shoulder, heard the haunting sound of his mechanical breathing. 

Darth Vader had her best friends. 

Her concentration vanished. Artoo shrieked curses at Leia as he was abruptly dropped from the air, crashing to the ground alongside the boxes of equipment. Her handstand collapsed, probably adding a few more bruises to her ever growing collection. 

Yoda sighed heavily, shaking his head. He tapped his cane against the ground and shuffled over to Leia. 

“Control,” he reminded her. “You must have control.” 

“I saw a city in the clouds,” she responded breathlessly. With all due respect for her master, she couldn’t give less of a fuck about his lessons right now. Not after what she had seen. 

“Friends you have there,” Yoda agreed. Had he seen it too? 

Leia’s chest ached at the memory of her friends in that city. Their fear, their agony. It cut straight to her heart. 

“They were in pain,” she said softly. 

He nodded, his eyes solemn. “It is the future you see.” 

“Future?” Leia scrambled to her feet, pacing the small clearing. It was in the future. That meant that there was still time. It was a small mercy, a relief that Luke and Han hadn’t experienced that pain already. She couldn’t let it happen. 

But what about her training here? She still had so much to learn from Yoda. Could she leave in the middle of this? She had made a promise to see this to the end. But that wasn’t enough to leave her friends to suffer. She stopped, turning to Yoda with suspiciously shiny eyes. 

“Will they die?” She asked, her voice tight. 

She had been hoping for an immediate no, but Yoda took a moment to consider the question, closing his eyes as if reaching out into the force. After a beat, he shook his head, frowning. 

“Difficult to see,” he admitted. “Always in motion is the future.” 

That settled it. “I’m going to help them.” 

She turned, reaching for her fatigues. Even looking away from Yoda, she could sense his disapproval of her decision. 

“Decide you must how to serve them best,” he warned. “If you leave now, help them you could. But you would destroy all for which they have fought and suffered.” 

That stopped Leia cold. With a situation like that, there was no winning. Either way, she would be dooming her friends in some form or another. A thread of despair curled around her heart, and she slowly sank down into a seated position on the log. For once in her life, she had no idea what to do. 

  
  


The  _ Falcon _ , as per usual, was barely avoiding being shot down. 

They made it to the atmosphere of Bespin. The clouds were golden mountains, touched with pink against the pale blue of the sky. Luke couldn’t help leaning past Han to gaze at the sight, his eyes sparkling with wonder. After being in the darkness of space for so long, and the blank landscape of Hoth before that, he adored getting to see something this colorful and lovely. Han was thinking the same thing, but he wasn’t looking at the clouds. His eyes were soft as he watched the prince gaze at the clouds, a smile tugging at his lips. 

His focus was dragged away from Luke by a voice on the transmitter angrily asking for his landing permit. 

“No, I don’t have a landing permit,” he admitted, giving a wary look to the ships pulling alongside them. “I’m trying to reach Lando Calrissian.”

The ships immediately responded by firing at them, shaking the already damaged freighter. Luke grabbed onto the back of Han’s chair to stabilize himself, his eyes wide. Had they really come all this way to be shot down by parking cops? 

“Whoa, wait a minute, let me explain!” Han yelled, panic flashing across his face. 

“You will not deviate from your present course.” The voice over the intercom was sharp. 

“Rather touchy, aren’t they?” Threepio commented. Luke had to agree. 

“I thought you knew this person,” Luke said, glancing down at Han. 

Chewie growled a reminder to his captain, making him look away guiltily. Luke hadn’t perfected his understanding of Shyriiwook, but clearly something had happened between Han and this Lando Calrissian. 

“That was a long time ago, I’m sure he’s forgotten about that,” Han said, but he sounded far from convinced. 

“Somehow, I doubt that,” Luke sighed. This wasn’t going to end well. Han had so many people that he had pissed off over the years: disgruntled clients whose cargo he had stolen, angry smugglers who had lost to him, any and all bounty hunters, people who adhered to the rules of the Empire. What had he done to piss off Lando? 

This whole planet was lovely, but an uneasy feeling settled in his stomach. This beauty hid something dangerous, he was sure of it. He had absolutely no proof, just a feeling. He closed his hands into fists and relaxed them a few times. Maybe this was just his nerves. 

Han shot him a wounded look. Luke just raised an eyebrow, shaking his head. Han damn well deserved his lack of faith. He had one job: get them off Hoth and back with the Rebellion. So far, they had survived, but failed spectacularly in that particular goal. 

“Permission granted to land on Platform 3-2-7,” the intercom voice said. 

Luke relaxed a little. Well, that was one challenge out of the way. 

“Thank you,” Han said, grinning. He switched off the comms, turning back to wink at Luke, who rolled his eyes. “See? Nothing to worry about. We go way back, Lando and me.” 

Luke crossed his arms, letting out a slow breath. That was definitely bull, but he chose not to tell Han that he was full of it. They needed a win right now. 

“Who’s worried?” The words were tense, concerned. The ships outside the window pulled uncomfortably close, and he shot them a suspicious glance. 

They flew towards the city, hovering like a gem in the darkening golden sky. There were tall buildings on the top of the rounded surface, blue lights coming from the windows in lovely contrast to the warm light reflecting off the pale architecture. 

The ships thankfully flew away after escorting them to the landing platform. As Han opened the hatch, Chewie brushed Luke behind him, insisting on exiting first with his bowcaster in hand. There was no arguing with a protective Wookiee, so he just smiled fondly, allowing Han and Chewie to lead them out. 

Despite the fact that there was ample warning prior to their arrival, the platform was suspiciously empty. 

“Oh, no one to meet us,” Threepio commented. 

Luke slowly followed them outside, shivering against the sharp winds. He was grateful that he was still wearing his snow gear from Hoth. The white jacket was blissfully warm in the freezing winds. A city in the clouds had its drawbacks. He hesitated at the end of the ramp, not stepping onto Cloud City quite yet. Anxiety rose in his chest, his instincts urging him to get out of there, to leave this place. 

“I don’t like this,” he said quietly, shaking his head. But they had no choice. The  _ Millennium Falcon _ was damaged, in desperate need of repairs. He forced himself to push past his dread and finally exit the ship. 

“Well, what would you like?” Hon shot back, coming over to him. Luke glared. He opened his mouth to say that he would like a functioning ship and to be back with the Rebellion, but Threepio started talking first. 

“Well, they did let us land.” 

“Look. don’t worry,” Han said, looking at look. Luke gave him an exasperated look. Was he really telling the person with anxiety not to worry? “Everything’s gonna be fine. Trust me.”

“Just like I trusted you to have functional light speed?” Luke asked, tilting his head to the side and raising his eyebrows challengingly. 

Just as Han was opening his mouth to start arguing, the door hissed open, and a group of men began heading out along the platform to meet them. 

“See? My friend,” Han told Luke smugly, grinning. He moved over to Chewie, leaning close to his first mate and lowering his voice so the prince wouldn’t hear. He knew Luke was already worried, there was no need to worsen it with his own mistrust of the situation. “Keep your eyes open, huh?”

Chewie growled in affirmation. 

“Hey!” Han called, throwing his arms wide and grinning at the handsome man walking towards them. 

“Why you slimy, double-crossing, no good swindler,” Lando snapped, stopping in the middle of the long pathway and putting his hands on his hips. He looked deadly serious, his cape flapping in the sharp wind. “You’ve got a lot of guts coming here, after what you pulled.”

“Great start,” Luke muttered to himself. He didn’t complain as Chewie stepped in front of him protectively. Maybe if they just hoped for the best they could find another planet with someone willing to help. He crossed his arms tightly. The three of them hung back with the ship, just in case the situation became even more volatile and they needed to make a run for it. 

Han looked hurt, pointing at himself and innocently mouthing,  _ Me? _

Lando slowly stepped forward to meet Han, his face deadly serious. Then he sharply dodged, as if feinting an attack, then sharply pulled the pirate into a tight hug. Han looked as shocked by the warm greeting as Luke felt. 

“How you doin’, you old pirate?” Lando laughed, grinning broadly. Suddenly he seemed far less intimidating, but downright charming and friendly. The bald man behind him gestured for the company behind Lando to leave, and they marched out. Luke relaxed a little. He hated being outnumbered, especially by guards who weren’t members of the Rebellion. “So good to see you! I never thought I’d catch up with you again. Where you been?”

“Well, he seems very friendly,” Threepio said cheerfully, readily walking over to where the men were embracing. Chewie followed shortly after, but Luke hung back. As warm as Lando seemed, he had a bad feeling about this whole situation. 

“Yes,” he said quietly, still anxious and wary. He reluctantly moved away from the  _ Falcon _ . “Very friendly.” 

“What are you doing here?” Lando was asking Han. 

“Ah, repairs,” Han explained, gesturing to the ship. “I thought you could help me out.”

Lando looked over the damaged ship in mock panic. “What have you done to my ship?” 

“ _ Your _ ship?” Han asked, raising his eyebrows. “Hey, remember, you lost her to me fair and square.”

Luke somehow doubted that. Nothing about Han was fair and square. 

“And how you doin’, Chewbacca?” Lando asked, apparently choosing to ignore Han’s bald faced lie for the time being. He looked past Han, his smile fading slightly at the sight of the bowcaster in the Wookiee’s arms. “Still hanging around with this loser?”

Chewie roared, but it seemed to be good natured. Evidently they had gotten along. Luke approached slowly from behind him, working hard to school his worry into a calm facade, as if he was still dealing with the Senate. He almost missed dealing with the stuffy old senators. It was a simpler time. 

Lando caught sight of the prince behind Chewie and grinned broadly, intrigue brightening in his eyes. 

“Hello.” A flirtatious expression lit up his face, and he nudged past Han to greet the new person. How had the pirate made such a handsome friend? “Welcome, I’m Lando Calrissian. I’m the administrator of this facility. Who might you be?” 

Luke was about to give a noncommittal answer; he still didn’t feel good about this place, even if he was fairly sure that it was just his anxiety blowing everything out of proportion. But then he caught a glimpse of Han’s face, seeing jealousy flash across it. A smug feeling came across him. Was Han going to get jealous of his friend flirting with him? Now,  _ this _ he could have quite a bit of fun with. 

“Call me Luke,” he said, smiling at Lando. It wasn’t difficult to pretend to be charmed by him. On some level, he actually was. Most of Han’s flirting consisted of half insults and arguments. It had been years since someone tried to woo him like this. Since he was no longer the heir to the fortune of Alderaan, people didn’t try to flirt with him quite as often. Lando was stunningly handsome, and had excellent fashion taste to match. Not enough people wore capes anymore. “I didn’t expect one of Han’s old friends to be quite this charming.”

“Welcome, Luke,” Lando said, smiling and leaning close to him. He took Luke’s hand, bringing it to his lips and kissing it. His lips were warm, lingering on Luke for longer than necessary. “Next to Han, it is all too easy to be the charming one.”

Luke laughed, half real and half to just annoy Han further. It seemed to work. He wedged himself between them, gently but firmly nudging his friend away. Luke had to work hard to hide a smirk. That was easy. 

“Okay, okay,” he said, taking Luke’s hand from Lando’s and tugging him away. As soon as Lando could no longer see his face, Luke broke out into a grin. One of the first times that Han had taken his hand just to hold it, all because he was jealous of his flirty old friend. If he had known it was this easy to make him jealous, he would have flirted with Wedge Antilles long ago. 

Threepio started to introduce himself as Han and Luke walked away, but Lando only had eyes for Luke. He half listened to Threepio, but was walking after the men before the droid could finish. 

“What’s wrong with the  _ Falcon _ ?” Lando asked, catching up to them quite easily. 

“Hyperdrive.”

“I’ll get my people to work on it,” Lando promised. He turned to Luke, smiling at him so widely it almost seemed fake. Luke very intentionally released Han’s hand, folding his hands behind his back instead as he walked inside. Han was miffed, but he didn’t say anything. Maybe he picked up on the fact that the prince was trying to mess with him. 

“You know, that ship saved my life quite a few times,” Lando continued. “She’s the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy.”

“When she’s working,” Luke replied, glancing over at Han. Lando laughed for far longer than necessary, making Han roll his eyes. 

“How’s the gas mine?” He asked, clearly keen on changing the subject. “Still paying off for you?” 

Luke fell back, allowing them to walk together as they talked. He and Chewie walked together, with Threepio lagging behind. Normally Luke would have kept an eye on his droid, but he was looking at the lovely interior of the building. It was quite beautiful, although anything seemed a little pale in comparison to the sunset outside. He scanned the suspiciously empty halls. It was a big area, clearly made for lots of people to be bustling around, but the only ones present was their party and a few repairsmen working. Odd. 

“Well, seeing you sure brings back a few things,” Lando was saying, smiling at his friend. They paused, just looking at one another for a moment. There was a fond look on both their faces, tinged with regret. 

“Yeah,” Han agreed He raised a hand as if to pat Lando on the shoulder, but lowered it quickly, glancing over at Luke briefly. A brief awkwardness stretched between them as they looked at one another, gazing into one another’s eyes. 

Luke tilted his head slightly, his eyes narrowing as he studied their body language. They were standing too close for acquaintances, but carefully avoided touching one another in a way too awkward to be friends. That was when it clicked. 

Han had really decided that the best person for them to go to for help was an  _ ex boyfriend _ ? No wonder he had been so protective with Luke, he was watching his ex flirt with the guy that he currently had feelings for. 

“Wow,” he muttered under his breath, his eyes widening ever so slightly as he watched the two. This was going to be even worse than he originally thought. 

“I’m responsible these days,” Lando said abruptly, clearly hoping to end the awkward beat. He continued leading them down the hallway. “It’s the price you pay for being successful.”

Luke followed, slowly shaking his head. What were the odds that the closest person to help them was Han’s ex boyfriend? Threepio could probably calculate it. He glanced back, catching a brief glimpse of his droid behind them. Satisfied that they were all still together, he turned forward and followed Han. 

He didn’t see Threepio make a wrong turn, disappearing into a different room. 

  
  


Leia made a decision. She was not going to leave the people she loved to die at the hands of Vader. Yes, she would definitely be walking into a trap, but she could handle it. She was a way better Jedi now. The Force was with her, flowing through her body and giving her strength. She could feel it beside her at all times, an old friend. 

She and Artoo had packed up the supplies, clearing off the moss and gunk so the engines would be ready to fly. Fixing everything up was a familiar skill, from fixing the moisture vaporizers back on Tatooine. She could almost hear Uncle Owen instructing her on how to check the wires without damaging anything. 

She was back in her orange jumpsuit, fully prepared to fly out. Artoo settled into his place in the ship, chirping happily. He wasn’t a fan of Dagobah, and clearly ready to get back to the main fight. Only one was not happy about their departure plans.

“Leia, you must complete the training!” Yoda protested. He was standing on a nearby log, leaning on his cane. He was distressed and unhappy with the situation, but staying out of the way. Even after only a few days of working with Leia, he knew that there was no stopping her when it came to doing what she wanted. Even a Jedi master couldn’t stop her. 

“I can’t keep the vision out of my head,” she called. She was precariously perched on top of the ladder, hanging inside the cockpit to clear out the last of the swamp water from inside. She straightened, looking at Yoda with a determined look in her eyes. “They’re my friends. I’ve got to help them.”

“You must not go,” Yoda insisted. 

“Han and Luke will die if I don’t!”

“You don’t know that,” Ben’s voice said. His presence was much stronger than before. A pale glow appeared beside Yoda; it took the form of Ben, just as she had seen him back on Hoth. Leia stopped with a foot on the ladder, her lips parted slightly in shock. Ben was here, apparently joining Yoda in telling her off. “Even Yoda could not see their fates.”

“I know that I can help!” She shot back. She had always been sassy with Ben, no reason to stop that pattern now. “I can feel the Force, it’s with me.” 

“But you cannot control it,” he reminded her. “This is a dangerous time for you, one where you will be tempted by the dark side of the Force.”

“Yes, yes!” Yoda chimed in. “To Obi-Wan you listen. The cave. Remember your failure at the cave!” 

Leia shot him a wounded look. Why would he bring that up? 

“I’ve learned so much since then!” She protested. She softened, stepping closer to her Jedi masters. “Master Yoda, I promise that I’ll return and finish what I’ve begun. You have my word.” 

Yoda sighed, his eyes sad. He didn’t respond, tapping his cane unhappily against the log. Ben spoke instead, drawing her gaze away from the small creature. 

“It is you and your abilities that the Emperor wants,” he said. “That is why your friends are made to suffer.” 

“And that’s why I have to go!” She turned on him, an old anger flickering to life in her eyes. She had plenty of grudges with Ben and his constant need to tell her half truths. “It’s not the Jedi way to leave people to suffer, is it?” 

In the past three years, whenever she could, she had studied the way of the Jedi. It was hard to find any real information, since the Emperor had forcibly erased all written knowledge about them. But stories floated between members of the Rebellion, stories. What Leia had gathered most was that the Jedi were supposed to be protectors of the people. If Leia left her friends to suffer at Vader’s hands, she would be betraying what the Jedi stood for. 

“Leia, I don’t want to lose you to the Emperor the way that I lost Vader,” Ben continued, completely ignoring her question. She scoffed, rolling her eyes. Ben had never really answered her questions in life, why would he be any different in death? 

“You won’t!” She said, closing the hatch beneath her ship with more aggression than necessary. She knew damn well that she had the dark side inside her; the cave had made that quite clear. But no matter what, she wouldn’t be Vader. Maybe she would turn to the dark side, and maybe she would follow the path of the Sith, but nothing in this galaxy would make her join the Emperor. They had done too much to her. 

“Stopped they must be, on this all depends,” Yoda told her solemnly. “Only a fully trained Jedi Knight with the Force as their ally will conquer Vader and his Emperor. If you end your training now, if you choose the quick and easy path, as Vader did, you will become an agent of evil.”

Leia moved about her ship as he spoke. A snake was curled up in the hatch on her starboard engine, and she carefully pulled it out, setting it on the ground. She was nearly finished packing, only needing to load up a few more boxes. 

“Patience,” Ben urged her. 

Leia turned on them, her patience snapping. There was nothing like being continually lectured on patience to make her toss her own out the window. She would  _ not _ be like Vader, she would rather die than become like the man who had killed her father. 

“I will not sacrifice my friends!” She told them sharply. “The Jedi protect people, and that’s what I’m doing. Have you forgotten that, hiding in this swamp?”

There was a long moment of silence. Leia stood resolute, a challenging look in her eyes as she stared down the old masters. Maybe she was just a Padawan, but she couldn’t understand why people with power didn’t protect those without. Yoda made his own choices, and maybe she didn’t approve, but she respected that choice. He should do the same for her. Yoda, to his credit, looked down, an old grief in his eyes. Guilt tugged at her heart. 

This situation wasn’t easy for any of them. Leia cared about her master, and she trusted him to make good choices, but in the end, this was her life, and she had to make her own choices. She chose her friends. She closed the last of the hatches on the X-Wing, checking one more time to ensure that it was ready for takeoff. 

“If you choose to face Vader, you will do it alone,” Ben warned. “I cannot interfere.”

“I understand,” she said. This was her fight. She climbed up the ladder. “Artoo, fire up the converters.” 

The masters shared an understanding look. Like a former padawan that they had known, Leia was stubborn. Nothing would stop her from doing what she had set her mind to. All that they could do now was offer their own wisdom and have faith in her. They had to hope that she was as strong as she believed. 

“Leia, don’t give into hate,” Ben told her. “It’s what leads to the dark side.”

“Strong is Vader,” Yoda added. “Mind what you have learned. Save you it can.”

Leia nodded, climbing into the cockpit. She committed their words to memory as she settled into her seat, preparing the ship to take off. 

“I will,” she told them, pausing for a moment before closing her ship. She looked at them both, a longing in her eyes. She wished that she could stay, continue learning, but her friends were more important than Jedi powers. She couldn’t stay here while they were in danger. “And I’ll return, I promise.” 

With that, the cockpit closed. The roar of engines overtook the jungle, lights from the ship washing over the trees and vines. The X-Wing rose into the air. Below it, Obi-Wan’s physical form faded to nothing once more, but his voice remained. 

“Told you, I did,” Yoda sighed. He lowered his head in regret. “Reckless is she, now matters are worse.” 

“That girl is our last hope,” Obi-Wan said. 

“No,” Yoda said firmly. He looked to the stars, beyond the fast disappearing ship. His eyes searched beyond the stars, looking through the Force to settle on the boy that he had been watching for over two decades. It was all too easy to find him in the Force; he shone with a light that was visible from across the galaxy if one knew what to look for. 

“There is another.”

  
  


At the moment, that boy was pacing a hole in the floor of the quarters he had been given in Cloud City. 

Everyone from the  _ Millennium Falcon _ had been given connecting rooms in the center of Cloud City, so they were close by but had their own space. Luke hated it. He had become too accustomed to sharing a room, as he did on the bases and on the ship. He and Leia shared a room on most of their bases, despite the rumors that circulated. People always shut up with a glare from Leia anyways. Without her nearby, he had trouble falling asleep, no matter how exhausted he had been from the past few days of travel. He tossed and turned all night, a part of him wishing that he could just sleep in the same room as Han, just to have someone he trusted beside him. He hated being alone.

After getting virtually no sleep, he finally rose with the sun streaming through the wide window. He had changed into the red jumpsuit and cloak that had been left by a droid; it was about time that his snow clothes were freshened up anyways. The city buzzed to life outside.

Something about this place set Luke completely on edge. New places often made him anxious, but this was even worse. It was beyond frustrating. A part of him was completely sure that this place was dangerous, but he had no solid proof. It made him wonder if his anxiety was just getting the better of him and making him overthink everything. It made things even worse, because he couldn’t trust his own instincts, as much as he wanted to. 

His pacing was interrupted as the doors hissed open, making him turn sharply, fear spiking in his chest. He relaxed when Han’s familiar frame walked into the room, relaxed and calm as ever. 

“The ship is almost finished,” he told Luke with a grin. “Two or three more things and we’re in great shape.”

“Good,” Luke breathed. He walked over to Han, the anxious thoughts that had been plaguing him all morning pouring from his lips. “We need to get out of here, something is wrong about this place. I haven’t heard from Threepio since we got here, and–”

“Hey, hey, hey,” Han said, putting his hands gently on Luke’s shoulders, trying to steady him. He leaned forward, gently kissing him on the forehead. Luke blinked up at him. Where had that come from? Han rested a hand lightly on his cheek, and Luke couldn’t help but lean into the touch. “Take it easy. I’ll talk to Lando and see what I can find out.”

Luke looked up at him with worried eyes. He liked Lando well enough, but something was off about him. His smiles were a little too wide, his laughter a tad too forced. He had seen that type of thing with all different kinds of politicians. The one factor that they had in common was that they were hiding something. Lando was as good at forcing a smile as every other senator that Luke had met, but it was a forced smile nonetheless. 

“Do you really trust him?” He asked quietly. 

“No,” Han replied immediately. “But he is my friend.” 

_ And your ex boyfriend _ , Luke added silently. 

“Besides, we’ll soon be gone,” he continued, unaware of Luke’s inner commentary. Confusion washed over him as the prince’s eyes grew even sadder. He frowned, wondering what he had said wrong this time. 

“And then you’ll be gone, won’t you?” He said softly. 

Han didn’t have a good answer for that. Their time stuck without lightspeed had been a brief reprieve from their original argument, but they both knew that he would be heading back to Tatooine to pay off his debts as soon as Luke was safe with the Rebellion. They also both knew that Luke was always going to want him to stay. 

Han sighed, putting an arm around the young prince and leading him over to one of the pristine white couches. They settled down on it, Luke leaning against the smuggler’s broad chest. There was no good outcome to this. Han didn’t have a good answer for Luke; he was still set on going back to Tatooine, and that would always make him upset. 

All that he could do right now was hold Luke close, try and calm him down. Something about this place had the prince even more nervous than usual, so he needed to calm him down. After three years, he had roughly figured out how to help the prince relax. Admittedly, it was fairly simple. Just holding him close, sitting together, it seemed to help make him feel a little better. Besides, all Han wanted to do was sit with him too, so it was mutually beneficial. 

It only felt like they had been sitting together a few minutes before the door hissed open again. Luke flinched, but it was only Chewbacca. He was roaring in distress, carrying a box with familiar golden limbs hanging out. 

“Oh no.” Luke recognized them immediately. Threepio. He shot to his feet, walking over with worry in his eyes. “What happened?”

He picked up Threepio’s detached head, the eyes empty and lifeless. Sadness tugged at his heart. Threepio had been his droid ever since he was a child; he trained him in protocol and lectured him on dozens of lessons. In an odd sort of way, he was the last member of his family from Alderaan. 

Chewbacca groaned an explanation, clearly as upset as Luke was about the droid being destroyed. He was fond of Threepio, in his own way. 

“You found him in a junk pile?” Han asked, frowning and leaning forward on the couch. 

“Oh, what a mess,” Luke said sadly. He gently settled the head back in the box, looking at Chewie hopefully. “Do you think you can repair him, Chewie?” 

Chewbacca didn’t look completely sure, shrugging a little hopelessly. But for his friend, he would try. He roared. 

“Lando’s got people who can fix him,” Han offered. 

“No,” Luke said firmly. Something was off about Lando; he didn’t want to put the life of one of his favorite droids into his hands. He would much rather have a trusted friend working on him. 

As if in response to his name being said, Lando swept into the room, his cape flowing behind him. He hesitated in the doorway, his eyes flicking over the inhabitants of the room, the awkward silence that started from the moment he arrived. 

“Sorry, am I interrupting something?” He asked. 

“Of course not,” Luke said, smiling at him politely. His politician side took over, keeping his calm, friendly mask over the real turmoil of his emotions. He straightened the cloak as he turned to face Lando. 

Lando seemed to sense that his words weren’t entirely true, but he recovered quickly. A dazzling smile lit up his face as he looked at the prince, shaking his head in admiration. 

“You look absolutely stunning,” he told him, taking a few steps closer. Behind Luke, Han rolled his eyes, beyond done with this flirting. “You truly belong here with us among the clouds.”

“Thank you.” Luke’s smile didn’t waver, but he tilted his head slightly, picking over those words in his mind, wondering what they could mean for him. 

“Would you join me for a little refreshment?” He asked, offering Luke a hand. Chewie perked up immediately. “Everyone’s invited, of course.” 

Chewbacca and Han rose to join them, and Luke hesitantly placed his hand in Lando’s. He couldn’t think of a good enough reason to refuse, and he knew that Chewie was hungry. Han was not pleased with Luke taking Lando’s hand, and came up beside him, offering his elbow for Luke to hold onto. The gesture made the prince smile, and he switched over to Han easily. 

“Having some trouble with your droid?” Lando asked, raising an eyebrow down at the box of Threepio body parts. 

“No, no problem,” Han responded immediately, completely deadpan. “Why?”

With that, he led Luke out into the walkway. Luke bit back a grin, giving Han the tiniest smile instead. He really admired the pirate’s ability to lie so easily, even with the truth sitting quite literally right in front of them. It took bravery. 

Luke held Han’s arm loosely as they walked through the halls of Cloud City. He was barely paying attention to the conversation. Lando and Han seemed perfectly happy in their own dick measuring contest, and he let them catch up with one another on their own time. He was busy fighting the mounting dread in his chest. Han had calmed him down for awhile, but now that they were back in the inexplicably stifling halls of the city, the anxiety was hitting him all over again. 

Anxiety was understandable. In the Rebellion, they had to be on guard at all times. Luke had been terrified of the Empire from the time that he turned twelve. After being captured by Vader, his constant terror had increased tenfold. Maybe it was just so much worse because Leia was gone. With her nearby, he always felt calmer, so maybe that was why his anxiety seemed to be skyrocketing right now. 

His grip tightened slightly on Han’s arm as unease steadily built up in his chest. Something was wrong here, he didn’t quite know why. He just couldn’t shake the dread inside him. There was something off about the way that the people nearby were looking at them. Not curiosity at their new visitors but fear, a heavy tension in their shoulders. His eyes trailed over them cautiously. Was this his anxiety or the Force? Was he reading into this or was he onto something?

He glanced over his shoulder to eye a woman practically running down the hall as she shot them a fearful look. What was that about? He shook his head, turning back just as they neared a set of doors. 

Suddenly, just as the doors were about to open, a cold feeling practically slammed into his chest, sending him stumbling backwards and tugging Han with him. He knew that feeling. 

“Han we have to–” he said in a rush, panic in his eyes. 

The doors opened ahead of them, revealing the source of the cold. Darth Vader rose from the table, and Luke couldn’t finish his sentence. He trembled, clutching Han tightly. Han, luckily, acted immediately, shoving Luke behind him and firing several shots at Vader with his blaster. All he did was hold up a hand, and the blaster fire simply exploded on contact. It didn’t even do anything to him. The blaster suddenly flew out of his hand, where Vader caught it deftly. 

“We would be honored if you would join us,” Darth Vader intoned, his voice as menacing and cold as ever. 

Luke turned to run, tugging Han behind him, but he was stopped short by the arrival of a dozen stormtroopers, surrounding the steps behind them and pointing blasters their way. They were cornered, penned in on all sides. It had been a trap. No wonder all the citizens appeared so nervous. No wonder his anxiety had been so awful, it was always worse with Vader nearby. 

For a moment, he just clung to Han’s arm, struggling to control his breathing. They were trapped. Everything he had been trying to avoid for the past few years had finally caught up with him, and he was going to be a prisoner of the Empire. It didn’t seem likely that he would be able to escape this time. 

“I had no choice, they arrived right before you did,” Lando told them evenly, though his eyes were fixed on Han. He sounded regretful, but he managed to look his betrayed friend in the eye. “I’m sorry.”

Although Luke was terrified, he looked into Lando’s eyes and understood immediately. Making a choice to protect your people was the only choice you could make as a leader. His past aside, Lando genuinely cared for this community, and he was going to protect it even if it meant dire consequences for others. Luke had given up Dantooine in a desperate attempt to protect Alderaan, though that hadn’t worked as well as he hoped. 

“The Empire doesn’t keep their deals,” he warned, his voice even and his eyes serious. Lando turned to him, and he melted back into his cold, royal attitude. It was the only thing that he could hide behind, the only chance that he had to stand up to Vader. “Remember that.” 

With that, he took a deep breath, forcing himself to stand up a little straighter. He neated the cape that he had been given for the dinner, sliding his hand down to Han’s and interlacing their fingers, trying to draw strength from him and give him strength all at once. They would need it. Head held high, he entered the room. Perhaps he was a shade paler than usual, and a slight tremble was still perceptible in his hands, but he was damned if he was going to give Vader any more power over him than he already had. 

“Lord Vader,” he said, shoving all his fear down as much as he could while leveling the man with his gaze. Despite his best attempts, he couldn’t work past his fear enough to fire sharp words at him, like he had the first time that he had been captured. Luke had been through too much pain at this man’s hands to even pretend to be fearless. Luckily, he had Han. 

“You really can’t tell when people want to be left alone, do you?” Han snapped, glaring daggers at Darth Vader and the bounty hunter at his side. 

Unfortunately, neither of them seemed to care about the snarky remarks. An unspoken order seemed to pass through Boba Fett and Vader, and the bounty hunter walked towards them. Han tried to put himself between him and Luke, but he was brushed aside easily. Fett grabbed Luke’s elbow in a bruising grip, making him grit his teeth to bite back a cry of pain as he and Han were yanked apart. His muscles went rigid as the blaster dug into his side, breathing very shallowly. 

“Unless you would like to see the prince die here, the Wookiee will return peacefully to his cell and Solo will accompany myself and the bounty hunter downstairs,” Vader ordered, sweeping past them and leaving the dining room. 

Luke locked eyes with Han, trying not to show just how terrified he felt. He already looked so concerned for Luke, his hands curling into fists as he fought the urge to rush the bounty hunter. Hoping to ease the worry, Luke nodded almost imperceptibly. He would be fine. 

They were both prevented from any further communication by stormtroopers. Chewie roared as he was grabbed by the soldiers, immediately creating a commotion. He shoved one away, throwing them to the ground. Luke wanted to scream at him to cooperate, to not get hurt, but before he could do anything, Darth Vader simply raised a hand. 

Chewbacca suddenly was frozen in place, roaring in confusion and anger but unable to lash out the way that he so clearly wanted to. Luke’s eyes flitted between his friend and Vader’s curled fingers, hoping desperately that his friend would survive the evening. 

“Escort the Wookiee to his cell.” Darth Vader’s words were firm, and several stormtroopers rushed to escort Chewie away. Han was cuffed shortly afterwards. He didn’t make any move to resist, his eyes locked on his first mate as he was marched away. Luke knew how much they hated being separated; this would be even worse if they didn’t have one another to rely on. 

However, divide and conquer seemed to be the Empire’s strategy at the moment. Boba Fett shoved Luke down into a chair at the table, cuffing him with Imperial binders. He twisted, trying to see where they took Han. He barely caught a glimpse as the smuggler was escorted to an elevator, flanked by several Empire officers, including Vader and Fett. Only Lando was left to keep an eye on the prince. 

Luke focused hard on controlling his breathing, try to calm the traumatized parts of him that were currently screaming to get out of this city. His hands shook, slippery with sweat. He hated wearing binders. They were painfully reminiscent of his time as a prisoner onboard the Death Star; every time that he was moved onboard the ship, they forced him into binders. He couldn’t even wear bracelets anymore without seeing Alderaan being blown to nothing before his eyes. This was a thousand times worse. 

He pressed against the back of the chair hard, hoping that a stable feeling behind him would calm him down slightly. Squeezing his eyes shut, he reached out, hoping to brush the Force once more. It had saved him once, helped him keep from revealing the location of the Rebel base to the Empire. Maybe it could help him face the doubtless torture that was ahead. 

A comforting warmth enveloped him, easing his fear and helping his mind calm slightly. His shoulders relaxed slightly, and he was able to let out a long, slow breath. There was something else that he could feel nearby, not just Vader. It was a soft voice, coming from far away. Someone was reaching to him through the Force. 

As soon as he focused on the voice, trying to make out the words, it became stronger, a whisper in his ear. 

_ I’m coming, Luke _ . 

“Leia,” he said, surprised. His eyes flew open, and he glanced around, sure that she was somewhere with him. She had sounded so clear, so close. 

Lando frowned at him, and Luke settled his cold politician stare on the man, holding his gaze. He was still unhappy with the man for turning them in, even if the prince inside him understood the reasons. 

“Whatever Vader has promised you, he won’t deliver,” he warned. “You’re betraying your friend, and you’ll have nothing to show for it.”

“I’m trying to keep my city safe,” Lando retorted, putting his hands on his hips as he paced back and forth, in the exact same way that Luke had been pacing earlier. Despite himself, pity tugged at the prince’s heart. The situation was hurting Lando so much, he was still trying to justify it to himself. “I’m doing my best with an impossible situation.” 

“I understand,” Luke said softly. Lando looked at him, stunned. He had clearly been facing plenty of anger and protest, so empathy was unexpected. “Vader threatened my home too. He made me choose between the Rebels and my planet. I chose my planet. They blew it up anyways.”

Over the years, Luke had thought that talking about Alderaan would be easier. But every time that he recounted the story for someone, tears welled up in his eyes without permission. Sometimes he wouldn’t even realize they were there until they were running down his face. He raised his bound hands to his face to wipe them off, the heaviness of the binders on his wrists making him shudder. 

Lando was silent, just looking at him for a long moment. There was even more conflict in his eyes now. He had to know that the Empire couldn’t be trusted, but it was always worse when you knew that they would stab you in the back as soon as it became convenient. 

The tears wiped away, Luke opened his mouth to convince him further, to try and sway him to their side, but a sharp cry of agony suddenly echoed in the room. It was muffled, clearly from a distance, but Luke recognized it immediately. 

Han. 

He flinched as Han screamed again, a long, piercing cry that punched him in the gut. He involuntarily yanked at the restraints, wishing that he could run to him, help him. Fresh tears poured down his face as he heard Han scream again and again. His nightmares were filled with his friends being tortured, but it was so much worse to hear his Han, the strong, fearless pirate, screaming in agony. He never wanted to hear him make that sound. 

He hung his head, despair and grief wrapping around his heart. What were they going to do? They were captured, alone. He wished that he could help Han, protect him from this, but all he could do was cry quietly as he listened to his friend get tortured. 

A cold presence loomed nearby. Shortly after, Vader reentered the dining room, followed by a pair of stormtroopers. Luke briefly glanced up at him, his reddened eyes briefly burning with anger before his fear of Vader took over, making him look away. He hated that he was too scared to look at him right now, but being captured again, hearing Han get tortured, it was almost too much to bear. 

“What’s happening to Han?” Lando asked immediately, looking up at Vader. There was a stricken look on his face, taut with worry and tinged with regret. The screams of his old friend affected him too, it seemed. 

“The bounty hunter will bring him to Jabba the Hutt,” Vader said smoothly, brushing right past Lando towards Luke, who carefully refused to look at him. 

“What about Luke and the Wookiee?” He pressed, his eyes flicking to the young prince, who was silently looking at the table, tears dripping onto the fine clothing that Lando had given him. 

“They must never again leave this city.” 

“But that was never part of our agreement!” Lando protested. “Nor was giving Han to the bounty hunter!” 

“Perhaps you think you are being treated unfairly.” Vader turned to Lando slowly, menace emanating from his posture. It was enough to make Lando take a step back, look at the ground. 

“No,” he said, wisely. 

“Good,” Vader turned back to Luke, whose hands were trembling slightly. The closeness of the man’s icy presence in the Force made it harder than ever to find the warmth that kept him calm. It was overwhelmingly terrifying. “I would hate to have to leave a garrison here. Leave us.” 

Lando spared Luke a brief, pitying glance before swiftly leaving the room. He could only hope that he was trying to figure a way to get them out of here, but he doubted it. A good leader had to think about the best interests of their people, not their friends. Whatever else Lando was, he was a good leader, dedicated to this city. Luke could hardly fault him for that. 

Being alone with Vader was excruciating. He was far too close to Luke for comfort, the heavy sound of his breathing filling the room until it was all that Luke could really hear. He closed his eyes, trying to stop his hands from shaking by curling them into fists. Whatever Vader wanted, he couldn’t give into it. 

“I have some questions for you, your highness,” his voice was cold and mechanical, as usual, but there was something different in his words now. A hesitation and uneasiness that was much more human than Luke was used to hearing from the Sith Lord. 

He almost laughed, but it came out as closer to choking. Of course. He should have expected another torture session. Except this time, Vader was going to use Han to get to him. 

“I think you remember how well that worked out last time,” he said, trying to sound cool and calm, but his voice was thick and watery from the tears. He reached into the Force, trying to find strength there. 

“I remember how it worked for Alderaan.”

Luke flinched. The memory washed over him again. The green flash of his planet exploding. The pain that he felt through the Force when his people, his family, screamed out in pain before being silenced. It still made his heart shatter. 

Seeming satisfied with how the mere mention of Luke’s home world had hurt him, Vader began slowly walking through the room, his arms crossed tightly in front of his chest. Luke remained hunched in his chair, hyper aware of every movement that the man made. Anytime he approached him, terror sang through Luke’s veins, his mind screaming at him to escape, run, anything that he had to do to get out of this. But all he could do was tremble in the chair, frozen to the spot. 

“Leia Skywalker,” Vader said, turning to look at Luke. “How close are you two?”

Luke frowned, refusing to look at Vader. It wasn’t like he could read any of his emotions through the damned mask, so there was no point in looking at him and scaring himself more. So he kept his mouth shut and his eyes down, but his mind was racing. 

What did Vader want with Leia? Did he find out that she was Force sensitive and wanted to recruit her? Boy, he was really barking up the wrong tree there. As much as Luke feared Vader, Leia hated him. While blowing up the Death Star had helped with her rage for the deaths of her aunt and uncle, Vader killed her father. 

“How far along is she in her training?” Vader pressed, walking behind Luke. 

He drew in a slow, shuddering breath, willing his terror to go away. It didn’t, it never did, but it was worth the effort. He would not give into Vader, especially about his best friend. 

A hand came down painfully on his shoulder, the grip sure to leave bruising handprints on his skin. Against his will, Luke cried out, trying to twist away. Vader had, quite literally, a steel grip. 

“What could I know about the Jedi?” He blurted out, too terrified to stay silent any longer. “Everything about them has been erased.”

He cursed himself. On the Death Star, he hadn’t given them anything. But a few minutes alone with Vader and suddenly he couldn’t keep himself quiet. Why was he so weak? Why did this man scare him so much? He was a prince, he should be better than this. He should be brave, like Leia. Nothing scared her. 

“Ah, but you know of them,” Vader commented quietly. He turned Luke to face him, but the prince stubbornly kept his gaze down. “You know that Skywalker is training to become one.”

How the hell did Vader know all this? The only person that Leia discussed the Jedi with was Luke and Han. 

Was that why they tortured Han? To force information out of him about Leia? But why Leia? Had they found out that she was the one to blow up the Death Star? What did that have to do with her training to become a Jedi?

“What do you want with Leia?” He forced the question out, barely above a whisper.

There was a moment of silence. Vader straightened, sweeping his cape behind him and turning away from Luke. He crossed his arms, seeming to look into the distance. Luke risked a glance up at him, confused. 

“She will become my apprentice,” the man said, his voice quieter than its usual boom, but deadly determined. 

Luke’s eyes widened, a chasm of horror opening in his chest. He had thought that Vader would just want to imprison Leia, or kill her, but this was so much worse. He was going to twist and destroy her, shape her into a dark apprentice to serve beneath him. Losing Leia to death was one thing, but Luke couldn’t bear to lose her like this. He couldn’t fight one of his best friends. 

Darth Vader was more than capable of destroying her. Luke had seen his cruelty firsthand. Mercy didn’t exist behind that dark mask. He would torture Leia in the worst ways possible, put her through so much pain that there would be nothing left of the brilliant, passionate person that she was. He would probably use Han and Luke to do it as well, use her best friends to manipulate her as he pleased. It would be a hellish existence for all of them. 

Luke forced himself to shut down those thoughts. He couldn’t let his anxiety make the worst of this. Maybe he was weak enough to let his terror of Vader overcome him, but Leia wasn’t. She was the strongest person he knew. She was stronger than Darth Vader could even imagine. 

“She will never join you,” he said quietly. Vader turned sharply to face him. Despite the terror that flooded to his heart, he shoved away the fear and raised his chin, looking the Sith lord right in the face. “No matter what you do to her, to us, Leia will  _ never _ –”

Darth Vader was on him in seconds. Luke’s words choked off into a strangled gasp as Vader grabbed him by the throat, lifting him from the chair. Panic seized his muscles, and he kicked at Vader, struggling to get free. It was like kicking a stone wall; the man seemed barely affected by his attempts at fighting. He seemed far more angry with Luke’s adamant denial of Leia joining him. 

“You know nothing, Organa,” he hissed, carrying Luke by the throat to the door. Pain erupted in his throat, a burning that he knew would ache long after Vader released bim. He gasped, struggling uselessly. When the doors hissed open, Vader threw him outside onto the floor. 

Luke cried out weakly as he hit the ground, coughing and gasping for air. It was still a bit of a struggle to breathe with his crushed windpipe, but he was lucky. Few people that Vader choked like that made it out alive. 

“Take him to his cell!” Vader ordered. Stormtroopers that had been guarding the door grabbed Luke’s arms, hauling him to his feet. He was too weak to resist, still aching and breathless from Vader’s abuse. 

Confusion made his mind foggy as he was dragged away. It was clear that Vader hated him, knew all his weaknesses. The Empire knew very well that he was a high figure in the Rebellion, and Vader wasn’t known for his mercy. This all left Luke with a single question that rose above all the others racing through his mind. 

Why was he still alive?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ALL the angst!!! I hope you guys liked this chapter, I've really been looking forward to writing this part. Luke's anxiety is honestly one of the things that matters most to me in this fic. I know I was absent for awhile but please comment something nice if you can, give me the energy to finish this series. I need some good news, holiday season can be rough.
> 
> Also! I have recently discovered another set of Twin Swap Star Wars fics! You guys should totally check out the "How the Other Half Lives" series by aradian_nights. They have written so much for this AU, and honestly it's everything you could ever want. The twins are BADASSES from an early age and there's like ten works on it with all your favorite characters from the tv shows too. It's honestly way different from mine but in a really good way! Check them out, they're AWESOME! 
> 
> Happy reading guys! And happy holidays!


	6. Everyone has a really bad day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the chapter title really says it all

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning for brief contemplation of suicide. It's pretty brief, I promise.

Han dragged back into the cell by two stormtroopers, who dropped him unceremoniously onto the floor before leaving. He dropped to his knees and collapsed over, unable to support himself on his own. Chewie, who had been tinkering with Threepio, hurried over to haul his friend to his feet. Han was barely coherent. 

“I feel terrible,” was all he said. 

Chewie replied with the Shyriiwook equivalent of “No shit, Sherlock.” He gently hauled his friend over to the wall. A button caused a metal slab to emerge from the wall, giving Han a place to lie down. Chewie settled him down gently. 

At that moment, the doors hissed open again. Another pair of stormtroopers threw Luke inside. He barely caught himself before falling, gasping hoarsely. Chewie moved to help him, but he shook his head, waving the Wookiee aside. He would be fine as soon as he caught his breath. He was far more worried about Han. 

Falling to his knees beside Han, he gently stroked his hair back from his sweaty forehead, looking down at him miserably. The torture of the Empire was an old pain for him. It was a haunting memory, a trauma that he wouldn’t wish on anyone, least of all Han. Just looking at him, the vacant look in his eyes, the pain that he was too tired to hide, it broke Luke’s heart. 

“I’m so sorry,” he whispered, leaning forward to press his lips to his temple, lingering there for a long moment. 

“They never even asked me any questions.” The words were faint, barely audible. Han had never sounded so distant. Luke opened his mouth to explain, to tell him what Vader had said, but the door hissed open. 

All three of them immediately jumped into defensive positions. Chewie growled, uncharacteristically dark. A spark flickered to life in Han’s eyes. He grabbed Luke’s arm, pulling himself back to his feet. As weak as he was, he still pushed in front of Luke, scowling. Luke wanted to draw back, but he forced himself to hold his ground, even as his heart leapt into his throat. The tension in his shoulders eased slightly when he saw that it was Lando. Oh good, that was the safer of their options here. His only source of concern was the two guards flanking him. 

Han didn’t share the sentiment. 

“Get out of here, Lando!” Han snapped. Luke grabbed his arm, half trying to hold him up and half trying to hold him back. 

“Shut up and listen,” Lando said, his voice uncharacteristically sharp. Luke watched him, silently settling him with a cold stare. Lando couldn’t hold his gaze, looking to Han instead. “Vader has agreed to turn Luke and Chewie over to me.” 

“Over to you?” Han’s expression darkened with anger, and he moved in front of Luke, as if trying to protect him from his former friend. 

“They’ll have to stay here, but at least they’ll be safe,” he responded, holding up a reassuring hand. Guilt flashed across his face. Luke knew exactly why; he hadn’t mentioned what would happen to Han. 

“Vader wants us all dead,” Luke told Lando, his blue eyes cold. “He’s not going to let us live here with you. You must know that.”

“He doesn’t want you at all!” Lando said, throwing his hands up in frustration. His forehead was lined with stress, a man torn between compassion and duty. Luke sympathized. “He’s after that Skywalker girl.” 

“Leia?” Han asked. 

“Lord Vader has set a trap for her.”

Realization struck Luke. That explained it. Han was tortured, but wasn’t asked any real questions. Vader’s interrogation was all for himself, with the bonus of distressing Luke emotionally enough so that Leia could sense it through the Force. She had even told him that she was coming. 

“We’re the bait,” he said quietly, horror dawning in his eyes. As long as they were here, Vader’s plan was working. Leia may not be willing to join him, but if he threatened her friends, he would have a better chance of cooperation. 

“And she’s on her way.” Lando’s voice was touched with regret. He had enough decency to look ashamed. 

Han yanked out of Luke’s grip, swaying on his feet but somehow remaining upright. 

“You fixed us all real good, didn’t you?” He spat, venom in his words. He glared at Lando, his eyes burning with anger. “My friend.” 

He launched forward, clocking Lando across the jaw. It was a pretty impressive blow, considering he collapsed right afterwards. Lando stumbled away, a hand on his face. Han was barely coherent on the ground, and the two guards immediately whipped out their blasters in defense of their leader. One raised his blaster to slam it down on Han’s head. 

“No!” Luke yelled, leaping forward to throw himself over Han. He was so weak, he couldn’t take another blow. It could kill him. Luke got lucky. It hit his back rather than his head, but the butt of the gun still caused a small explosion of pain. He yelped, hunching over Han’s body and closing his eyes. Tears slipped past his eyelashes, but he kept his face down, not willing to give them the satisfaction. Holding firm over Han, he braced himself for the next blow. 

“Stop!” Lando ordered, and the guards stopped. Luke slowly raised his head. He wasn’t about to thank Lando for doing the right thing, not while they were still prisoners. Lando sighed, looking at Han. “Look, I’ve done all I can. I’m sorry I can’t do better, but I’ve got my own problems.”

“Yeah, you’re a real hero,” Han grunted. Luke helped him sit up, letting the accusatory look in his eyes do all the talking. They didn’t move until both guards followed Lando out the door, watching them tensely. 

Once the doors hissed shut, leaving the prisoners alone, Chewie and Luke helped Han to his feet. They eased him back onto the bench, but he pushed himself back so he could lean against the wall, letting out a quiet breath. Luke sat beside him, shaking his head with a half smile traced across his lips. 

“You certainly have a way with people,” he commented, but the words were affectionate. He didn’t say it to Han just yet, but he still had hope that Lando would see sense and help them. There was no saving his people, so every sacrifice he made for them was in vain until he decided to defy the Empire. 

Despite all the pain that they were both currently in, Han was able to give him a weak grin. Luke brushed the stray hairs from his face, trying to ignore the fresh bruise taking shape on his back. In that moment, Han really saw Luke’s face, saw the effects of his torture. A ring of bruises had already darkened around his neck, in the rough shape of a hand. His eyes were reddened from tears, his face pale in the way that Han recognized as the aftermath of an anxiety attack. 

“What did they do to you?” He asked, his eyes worried. 

Luke looked away, a lump forming in his throat. He wasn’t ready to talk about it, even with Han. He hated feeling so weak. Vader always did this to him, shattered the strong politician skin that protected him when he was scared in front of people. It just left him feeling like the broken, terrified boy that he always feared the Rebellion saw while looking at him. Han and Leia, their strength never seemed like a sham, but Luke was always felt that his bravery was a thin shell, viable to be shattered at any moment. Vader could shatter it just by being in the same room as him. 

“Oh, Luke,” Han said softly. He reached out, his shaking hand scabbling in the back of Luke’s snow jacket and pulling him close. The embrace was slightly painful for both of them, but they both relaxed into it. Luke pressed his face against Han’s shoulder, letting out a shuddering breath. Han rubbed his back gently, pressing his face against Luke’s dark gold hair. 

It only felt like they stayed there for a few minutes before the stormtroopers returned, this time to take them all away. Chewie had reattached Threepio’s head and arms to his torso, so the droid was providing commentary even though he was stuck as a glorified backpack. 

“If only you had attached my legs, I wouldn’t be in this ridiculous position,” he complained, waving his arms unhappily. “Now, remember, Chewbacca, you have a responsibility to me, so don’t do anything foolish.”

Luke took a breath as they walked, digging deep into his pool of patience. It wasn’t Threepio’s fault that he was programmed with an extreme sense of self preservation. He usually valued that sense in a droid, it kept them safe. But if he met whoever put that droid together, he would have some words with them about some programming choices. 

For some reason, the stormtroopers had opted to put Han into binders, but left Chewie and Luke to walk free. Luke was suspicious of the fact, but grateful to not be in binders since he knew it would be easier to avoid an anxiety attack. The sight of Han in binders made his stomach twist unhappily. He hated seeing other people living his nightmare as well. Why would Vader want him in binders, but nobody else? What did he have planned?

They descended into the lower levels of the city center, weaving through the white tunnels. As they walked, the Imperial presence in the city became all the more obvious. While there were only a few stormtroopers, likely from Vader’s personal legion, the citizens of Cloud City were tense and concerned. They could barely even look at the prisoners, unhappiness on their faces. Pity squeezed Luke’s heart. It had been a long time since he had seen the iron fist of the Empire come down on an innocent city. As a high ranking member in the Alliance, he had to avoid occupied cities like this. He could only imagine how difficult it must be for Lando, having to watch his people and his city suffer beneath Vader himself. 

They entered a large chamber filled with dark machinery, only lit by the orange glow from the ground and the blue lining the walls. It had a menacing aura, not just because of the stormtroopers milling around alongside Darth Vader and Boba Fett. Lando had his arms crossed tightly, staring stonily into the hole in the center of a large platform. 

The group slowed, staring around the room in silent concern. Luke’s heart pounded in his chest, and his eyes immediately tracked Vader as he swept down the stairs. Han leaned forward, speaking quietly to Lando. 

“What’s going on… buddy?” He sounded as tense as Luke felt, and Lando looked no happier.

“You’re being put into carbon freeze,” Lando answered quietly. There was a distant look in his eyes, and he seemed like he wanted to be anywhere else. 

Luke’s mouth dropped open, cold pooling in his stomach. Carbon freeze? That was incredibly dangerous. There had been documented attempts, but only a small percentage ended with the survival of the victim. He turned to Han, fear and concern in his eyes. This could kill him. Forget running away to pay back Jabba, this would take him away forever. All he wanted to do was grab Han and hold onto him forever, to scream at Vader and stop this from happening however he could. But shock and terror froze him to the spot, so all he could do was stare at Han with a shattered look in his eyes. 

“Put him in,” Vader ordered from across the way, gesturing for the stormtroopers to grab the smuggler. 

Chewbacca roared, reacting with the angry protectiveness that Luke wished he could have. He jumped into attack, swinging an arm out and knocking a stormtrooper off the platform. Boba Fett raised a gun to shoot him, but Vader grabbed the barrel, forcing it down. The stormtroopers reorganized, preparing to beat him down. A terrible fear for his friend tugged at Luke’s heart. 

“Stop!” Han shouted over the sound of the Wookiee’s roars. He shook off the stormtrooper holding him, placing himself between his friend and their guards. “Chewie, you hear me? Stop!” 

His words made Chewbacca slow. They stood close, Han looking up at his friend with a hard determination in his eyes. The stormtroopers took the opportunity to grab Chewie’s arms, forcing him into binders. Chewie didn’t even look at them, all his focus on his captain. 

“Chewie, hey! Chewie, this won’t help me,” he snapped. His voice softened, a gentleness in his eyes. “Save your strength, there’ll be another time.” 

Chewie moaned miserably. He wished that he could help, but their circumstances were impossible. While they talked, Luke glanced over at Vader. Although the mask prevented anyone from seeing where he was really looking, Luke felt the terrifying weight of his gaze. Heavy cold wrapped around his throat, the ghost hands of Vader all too sharp in his memory, making it impossible to say anything. He retreated, moving beside Chewie and grabbing his arm gently. Maybe it would help him stay calm. 

“The prince,” Han said, as quietly as he could while still being audible over the loud hissing of the machinery. Luke looked at him, his mouth dropped open slightly. “You have to take care of him. You hear me? Huh?”

As Chewie promised, Luke looked at Han, tears shining in his eyes. The possible last moments of his life, his last words to his first mate, and he was thinking of Luke? Protecting him? 

All this time, Luke had been upset that Han wouldn’t make any kind of real commitment. He had only seen Han running away from any chance of a real relationship, had only seen the casual flirting and teasing advances. But all this time, Han really had been committed to him, even if he was too afraid to show it. Everything he had done, he had done to protect him. He had gotten him off the base before Vader found them, he had nearly destroyed his ship to keep them from the Empire, and now he was using his last moments to protect him. Han really did love him. He could never say it, but he showed it every moment. Why couldn’t Luke see that until now? 

As soon as Han looked away from Chewie and down at the prince, Luke leapt forward. He had to go on his tiptoes, but he kissed the pirate firmly on the lips. His hands came up, holding the sides of Han’s face and curling his fingers in his hair to hold him as close as possible. The feeling of Han’s lips on his own made a warmth spread through Luke’s body, a fleeting feeling of happiness against the painful situation around them. 

The kiss was cut short as stormtroopers dragged Han away from him, pulling him to stand on a small circle in the center of the room. Tears ran down Luke’s face, a sudden emptiness in him without Han’s warmth against his own. He let out a shuddering breath, feeling lightheaded as he watched them remove his binders. 

“I love you,” he called, wishing that he had said it a thousand times before. He poured everything he wanted to say to Han in those three words: how grateful he was to have him, how much he adored that cocky smirk of his, how he made him feel safe, how he would do anything to stop this from happening. 

And Han smiled, a special little smile just for Luke. There was understanding and love in his eyes, like he could hear everything that Luke was trying to say. 

“I know,” he replied, holding Luke’s gaze. 

Just those words broke Luke’s heart. Even now, Han was focused on him, on being strong for his prince in these last few moments that they could have together. As much as he knew the smuggler was trying to hide it, Luke knew he was scared too. There was a tension in his jaw, even if he was trying to hide it as he stared up into Luke’s eyes. 

Even if these were his last moments, this moment was exactly what Han would ask for. Luke’s face was tearstained and afraid, but there was unbridled love in his blue eyes. He could die content, with Luke’s face as the last thing he saw. 

Chewie roared out in grief as Han was lowered down into the chamber, menacingly slow. Luke grabbed his furry arm for support, a hollow feeling settling in his stomach as Han finally disappeared from sight. Lando glanced over at the prince, guilt wrapping around his ribcage at the stricken grief on his face. 

A loud hiss sounded, and a column of smoke rose from the hole in the floor. Luke couldn’t watch, a choked cry ripping from his throat as he turned to bury his face in Chewie’s ribs. The Wookiee lifted the binders to wrap his arms around the prince, holding him close. 

“What’s going on?” Threepio interrupted their grief, oblivious as usual to the pain of everyone else in the room. The claw pulled a slab of carbonite from the hole in the ground, rising through the smoke. Luke couldn’t help turning away to look, although still clinging to Chewie’s arms for support. It just looked like a grey box from this angle. Luke stared uncomprehendingly. Was that really Han?

Then the workers pushed the slab over, and it hit the ground hard, the sound echoing through the room. Luke shrieked, clapping his hands over his mouth. His knees weakened, making it hard to stand. He sagged in Chewie’s arms, distantly grateful that the Wookiee was there to hold him up. Fresh tears sprang to his eyes as he stared at the statue that used to be Han. 

Han seemed to reach out from the carbonie, an agonized look frozen permanently on his face. The sight shattered any remains of Luke’s heart. His hands pressed over his mouth hard as he desperately tried to muffle his sobs, his eyes squeezing shut so he wouldn’t have to look at it. 

Lando was staring at his old friend as well, looking slightly sick. He glanced over at the shattered prince, and the vines of guilt curled around his ribs seemed to squeeze even tighter, making it a little hard to breathe. He risked a glance at Vader, trying to school his face into a neutral expression as he knelt beside the carbonite to check the readings. 

Luke opened his eyes again, forcing himself to stand. Chewie wrapped a firm arm around his chest, protectively holding him close. Luke squeezed his arm for support, using it to stabilize himself as he watched Lando check on Han. Chewie couldn’t look, turning away. This gaze Threepio a perfect view. 

“Oh!” He commented, looking at what used to be Han. “They’ve encased him in carbonite. He should be quite well protected, if he survives the freezing process that is.”

Chewie roared angrily at the doid, telling him to shut up. Luke knew that this was Threepio’s attempt at being reassuring, but it only made things worse. 

“Well, Calrissian?” Vader asked. His voice alone made Luke shudder. “Is he alive?”

“Yes, he’s alive,” Lando said, glancing up at Luke. There was a touch of reassurance in his eyes, but he dropped his gaze down to Han. “And in perfect hibernation.” 

“He’s all yours, bounty hunter,” Vader said, turning to Boba Fett. He gestured to the stormtroopers. “Reset the chamber for Skywalker.” 

Luke stood sharply, looking up at Chewie with panic in his eyes. Han was just a test, they really wanted to do this to Leia. They could lose her too. 

As if to confirm his worst fears, an Imperial officer walked into the chamber. “Skywalker has just landed, my lord.” 

“No.” Luke wanted to scream, but the word only came out as a horrified whisper. 

“Good, see to it that she finds her way here,” Vader said. 

As Vader was talking with the Imperial officer, Lando stood. He walked over to Luke and Chewie. He had just taken Luke’s arm to lead him out of the freezing chamber when Vader spoke again. 

“Calrissian,” his booming voice interrupted, stopping Lando cold. “Take the prince and the Wookiee to my ship.” 

Luke released Chewie, a desperate terror rendering him speechless again. No, he couldn’t. Being trapped in Cloud City was one thing, but being Vader’s personal prisoners? That would kill him. He couldn’t do that, he wouldn’t be able to live that way. His hands shook, and he clasped them tightly across his stomach in an attempt to hide it. 

“You said they’d be left in the city under my supervision!” Lando protested. Neither of them noticed, but he moved in front of Luke and Chewie, putting himself between them and Vader. 

“I am altering the deal,” Vader said simply. “Pray I don’t alter it any further.”

That settled it. Luke stared dead ahead as stormtroopers nudged them into movement, his gaze empty. He was going to live as Vader’s puppet, used to control his best friend for the rest of his life. A hollow despair settled in his stomach, and he followed wherever he was pushed without restraint, his legs taking him robotically through the motions. 

  
  


Leia jumped out of the X-Wing as soon as it landed, landing on the ground. Her fatigues were darkened and dirty from the mud on Dagobah, so there was no way she could have passed as a citizen. Luckily, there was nobody on the landing platform to greet her. She frowned, looking around as Artoo dropped to the platform beside her. There weren’t even any guards? 

She would have been suspicious, but she knew exactly what was happening here. Vader had plenty of time to capture her friends. This was just his trap. She pulled out her blaster, a deadly look in her eyes. She would make him regret this.

She and Artoo crept through the halls of Cloudy City. Leia regarded the sterile white walls with disdain. She hated this place. It was nothing against the place itself, but the circumstances of it. She could still hear Han’s screams, could feel Luke’s terror dripping from the walls. Even after she rescued them, she would never come back here. 

As she peered around a corner, she caught a glimpse of a man wearing armor and a helmet. He was walking ahead of something floating, a grey slab being pushed by two men in blue uniforms. She stared at the object for a moment, uncomprehending. There was a face, and what looked like hands emerging from the stone. Squinting at it, a heavy feeling settled on her chest, an understanding that came to her through the Force. 

She let out a short breath, eyes widening with horror. She didn’t know how, but that was Han. 

Anger rose up in her throat, and she had to take a moment to close her eyes. The warm calm of the Force passed through her, and she allowed it to carry her rage away. She would fix this. For now, she needed to keep her anger in check and defeat Vader. 

She ran down the hall, peering around the corner to see where they disappeared. Artoo came up behind her, beeping that he had found a computer port. She shushed him, pushing him back. It was too late. The helmeted man was back in a moment, firing a couple blaster shots at her. 

She hissed a curse word, hiding behind the wall to avoid getting hit.

A few halls over, Luke’s head shot up at the sound of blasters being fired nearby. Realization punched him in the gut. That had to be Leia. All the Cloud City residents had been cleared out to leave her path to Vader clear. 

He turned, his eyes searching down the hall. The stormtrooper pushed him forward, nudging him along. He didn’t fight, not yet. His mind was racing with a plan. 

Maybe there was no hope for the three of them. It would be hell, trapped with Vader alongside Chewie and Threepio. But the galaxy would be better off with Leia there to protect it. She could take his place as one of the leaders of the Rebellion, and maybe she would rescue him all over again. But he couldn’t let Vader get to her. Maybe there was still hope of that. 

The Imperial officer walking alongside Lando and the stormtroopers noticed the shadow ahead of them first. He gestured for the stormtroopers to be on guard. Luke hissed in pain as the officer grabbed his arms, yanking them behind him roughly and dragging him away. 

Leia ran down the hall as soon as she realized that the man had disappeared. She hesitated at an intersection. Han and his captors had gone down the right hallway, but the Force was pushing her towards the left. Following its suggestion without hesitation, she ran down the hall with Artoo right behind. 

She emerged from the tunnel just in time to catch a glimpse of Chewie and Luke before red blaster fire began to rain down on her from the stormtroopers. She took cover back in the tunnel, squinting against the flashing lights. 

Luke caught a glimpse of a long braid ducking behind a corner. His eyes widened, and he came to life in the officer’s grasp, struggling against him frantically. This was his chance, he had to warn her. 

“Leia!” He yelled frantically, trying to pull away from the Imp. “No, Leia run! Get out of here! It’s a trap, Vader wants–”

His shouts were cut off abruptly as the Imperial officer clapped a hand over his mouth, forcibly dragging him away. He screamed against the man’s hand, but he had an iron grip. Chewie roared at Leia, encouraging her to do the same. They were both swiftly forced away by stormtroopers, who continued to fire at the young Jedi until they were out of sight. 

“Luke, Chewie!” Leia yelled. She ran down the hall after them, but they disappeared down the maze of hallways too fast for her to determine where they went. 

As she reached out with the Force, trying to sense them, a door opened beside her. The Force seemed to pull her inside. Reluctantly, she allowed it to tug her along. She could sense why it was taking her this way; Vader was there. Now that she was more aware of the Force around her, she could sense him within it, a coldness that spread through the surrounding area like ink through water. 

The closer she ventured to the cold, the darker the hallways became, until she was in a room only lit by blue walls against dark grate and machinery. She took a deep breath, wrapping the warmth of the Force around her like a suit of armor. For a moment, she looked at her blaster, then put it away, drawing out her lightsaber instead. It would be much more useful for the foe she was about to face. 

The floors suddenly lit up a brilliant orange, illuminating a figure dressed in all black at the top of a staircase. Darth Vader looked down at her, his arms crossed. 

“The Force is with you, young Skywalker,” he said, his mechanical breathing echoing through the room. “But you are not a Jedi yet.”

Well how the fuck did he know that? Could he sense her thoughts in the Force? Perhaps he remembered his time as a Jedi well enough to know the difference. Leia threw her shoulders back, marching up the steps towards him. She would not let this man scare her. With her anger under control, she could defeat him. 

Instead of giving into her desire to fire back angry retorts, she stared at him stonily. She ignited her lightsaber, drawing into an attack position. 

Darth Vader ignited his burning red lightsaber, the light washing over the black mask. She braced herself for an attack, but he waited, simply holding out the weapon in warning. For a moment, they just watched one another, wary but unwilling to throw the first attack. Leia reached into the Force, drawing on the warm calm that it provided. 

In a flash, she swung her weapon at his head. He blocked it, as she expected, but she was already preparing to strike again, her lightsaber a blur of blue light as she struck at him again and again. He blocked every hit with the heavy force of an unmovable object, but Leia wasn’t deterred. She delivered a hard overhead blow with all her strength. It should have sliced right through his skull, but Vader blocked it with his lightsaber. Even one handed, against the girl who was stronger than most of her squadron, he was able to throw her backwards. 

Leia hit the ground hard, but leapt right back to her feet, her lightsaber never leaving a defensive position. It hovered in front of her protectively, but even in her weakened state, Vader didn’t go for the killing shot. No, he wanted her alive, so he could turn her to the dark side. 

Carefully, she took short lunges forward, slowly pushing him backwards. Her hands itched to go for another killing blow, but she held back, waiting for the right moment. When the Force sang for her to attack, she leapt into action with a yell, striking at Vader again and again. Eventually, she would land a hit. He couldn’t keep up this defensive style forever. 

  
  


The Imp eventually released Luke’s mouth, but only when he was sure that Skywalker was out of earshot. He still had a tight grip on the prince’s upper arm, squeezing much tighter than necessary. Luke bit the inside of his cheek to silence the cry of pain, just glaring coldly ahead as he bided his time. They would escape this. He refused to live as Vader’s prisoner. 

They continued down the hall, until the stormtroopers were ambushed by a dozen men in blue uniforms. Luke recognized them as the same group that accompanied Lando the first time that they arrived. His eyes flicked to the man, and he raised an eyebrow. He was perfectly composed, immediately turning to collect the stormtroopers’ blasters. 

Once he had grabbed two, he turned to the Imp holding the prince, leveling one at him with a hard stare. 

“Step away, please,” he said. The words were polite, but left no room for argument. The Imp released Luke, but before he could step away, Luke sharply turned, grabbed the front of his uniform, and clocked him across the face as hard as he could. The Imp yelled, falling to the ground where one of Lando’s guards hauled him to his feet. 

Luke straightened his jacket, accepting one of the blasters that Lando handed him wordlessly. 

“Well done,” Lando said to Lobot, nodding approvingly. “Hold them in the security tower, and keep it quiet. Move.” 

Once the stormtroopers had been led away, leaving Lando alone with the former prisoners, he moved over to release Chewbacca from the binders. Luke smiled, following him to stand beside Chewie. 

“I knew you had it in you,” he said, a note of pride in his voice. It had been clear from the moment that Lando turned them in that he didn’t like what he had to be doing. He was a good man. Luke’s main worry had been that Lando wouldn’t be willing to defy the Empire if it meant putting his city at rick. 

Chewie didn’t share the sentiment. Clearly still enraged over the wrongful imprisonment of his captain, he grabbed Lando by the throat as soon as his hands were free. The man choked, struggling to gasp out a breath past his iron grip. The bruises on Luke’s throat ached in sympathy. 

“Chewie, wait!” He pleaded, taking the Wookiee’s arm. “Maybe we can still save Han, but we’re going to need his help!” 

Chewbacca’s grip lessened on Lando’s neck slightly, and he gasped with relief. But he wasn’t out of the situation yet. Chewie turned to Luke, growling quietly. 

The bounty hunter couldn’t have gotten far. And if Han was still nearby, they had to save him. If he made it to Jabba the Hutt, he would likely never be seen again. Lando knew the city, knew where Boba Fett was taking him. Without him, they could likely wander the city for hours without finding anything. Besides, as upset as Luke was with Lando, he understood him. How could he not sympathize with a man who wanted to protect his city? 

“Please,” Luke said quietly to the Wookie, resting a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Let him go. Let’s save Han.” 

Chewie growled, but released him. Luke grabbed Lando’s arm as he fell, weakened by the lack of oxygen. He coughed as he struggled to his feet, meeting Luke’s eyes, something like wonder in his expression. He tried to pull out of Luke’s grasp once he was strong enough, but the prince tightened his grip on his arm. When Lando turned to look at him again, Luke’s cold, hard gaze was fixed on his face. 

“Tell me why you decided to do this,” he insisted. Before he put all his faith in this man, he wanted a good reason. Luke was a trusting soul. It was in his nature. But after all the betrayals and suffering that he had faced, he had learned to know the exact reasons that someone was helping him. The Force would help him determine whether Lando was lying. 

“You were right,” Lando admitted. His eyes flicked downwards, but returned to look the prince in the eye, nothing but true sincerity in his expression. “The Empire is never going to leave Cloud City alone. It’s not worth betraying a friend.” 

Lando had been developing an exit plan from the moment that he had left Luke with Vader. It had taken time and careful planning to execute, and there wasn’t a good time to escape until Vader had his quarry and Boba Fett wasn’t expecting any further trouble. It was the one moment that there was finally an opportunity for escape. Besides, he had heard when Han made Chewbacca promise to take care of Luke. With his friend gone, maybe forever, he had his own duty to do the same, to try and fulfill his old friend’s last wish. 

Luke didn’t know all of this, just looking at Lando, but an instinct told him that he could trust him. He was telling the truth. He nodded, releasing Lando and tossing his gun to Chewie. He was a better shot; Luke could pick up a new one later. 

“Lead the way.” 

Lando led them down the halls towards where Boba Fett’s ship was docked. Chewie was right behind him, ready to fire at anyone who attacked them. Still unarmed for the moment, Luke hung back, occasionally having to shush Threepio so he didn’t give away their position. 

Beeps suddenly chirped from behind him, and he turned, seeing a familiar blue droid rolling towards him. 

“Artoo!” He exclaimed in a whisper. They paused briefly in the hall, and Luke leaned down and placed a hand on the droid’s little dome. His heart squeezed. If Artoo was here, so was Leia, and now she was probably alone with Vader. “Why aren’t you with Leia?”

[Well, it’s good to see you too,] Artoo snapped, rolling along beside him as they started moving down the hall again. [Why is my useless husband in pieces?]

“Threepio got himself in a junk pile, it’s a long story,” he replied, waving a dismissive hand. He peered around the corner to make sure that it was clear before hurrying after Chewie. Artoo was very protective of his best friend; they hadn’t appreciated being separated. “I told you to keep Leia safe when you left for Dagobah, why would you leave her to face Vader alone?” 

[The door closed before I could follow,] Artoo explained. The next beep was quieter, a little more apologetic. [I tried, Luke.]

Luke sighed. It wasn’t Artoo’s fault. Vader wouldn’t let anyone, even the most determined astromech unit on the planet, get in the way of his plan to corrupt the daughter of Anakin Skywalker. 

“I know, bud,” he said, touching the back of his dome. “Thanks for trying.”

Just then, Lando pressed the keypad, opening the doors just in time to give them a perfect view of Boba Fett’s ship as it rose from the platform. Luke pressed forward, eyes desperate and scared. Chewie roared, firing blast after blast at the departing ship. But it did nothing. The ship’s blasters flared, sending a sharp blast of hot wind over the platform as Han was taken away from them forever. 

A tear ran down Luke’s face, grief settling heavily in his stomach. Lando’s face reflected the same sadness, but his was mixed with guilt. They had failed, they couldn’t save Han. 

“Oh no!” Threepio yelled. “Chewie, they’re behind you!”

Lando took Luke’s arm, gently but firmly, tugging him out of the stormtroopers’ range of fire. They took cover at the doorway, while Lando and Chewie efficiently shot the two stormtroopers. When they were down, Luke ran over, grabbing one of their blasters. They would all need a weapon if they were going to make it off this forsaken planet. 

  
  


Leia sharply dodged one of Vader’s strikes. The blow pushed her to the very edge of the stairs, teetering on the verge. She was very aware of it, but her eyes stayed on Vader, unwilling to give him even an inch. 

“You have learned much, young one,” Vader commented, sounding almost pleased. As if he had been looking forward to a better opponent. He even lowered the lightsaber to hold up a finger as he said it. 

Leia took the brief lowering of his lightsaber as an opportunity, snapping a blow at his now undefended chest. He responded in kind, instantly pulling his burning red blade back to block her. 

“You’ll find I’m full of surprises,” she said, striking at him again. He defended himself from several blows before disarming her with little effort, sending her lightsaber clattering to the area below. She would have to go down the stairs to get it. Evidently she spoke too soon. 

Vader swung his lightsaber down at her in full force, forcing her to leap down the stairs. Her muscles immediately remembered Yoda’s obstacle course, and she flipped forward, landing unsteadily. The shock from hitting the metal so hard send pain vibrating through her ankles. She turned to face Vader again, and he leapt down the stairs with little effort. His cape flared behind him as he soared downwards, making him look like a bat. It might have been funny if it wasn’t terrifying. Unwillingly, she drew back a step. The giant hole in the ground was right behind her. What was it even for?

“Your destiny lies with me, Skywalker,” Vader said, landing easily on the grate. “Obi-Wan knew this to be true.” 

“Get fucked,” Leia spat. 

She wanted to reach for her lightsaber, call it through the Force, but her anger had already risen. She wasn’t willing to use the Force when she was angry like this, it was all too easy to give into the dark side. Her comment at Vader cost her the split second that she could have used to grab it. Instead, when he swung his lightsaber, she had to fall back, right into the waiting pit. 

“All too easy,” Vader said smugly. She shoved herself to her feet, wincing at the aching pain in her side from where she fell. The machinery whirred to life, and she looked around, wide eyed. She didn’t recognize this technology, but she knew that it couldn’t be good. Luke had said that it was a trap. She needed out. As smoke filled the little chamber, she leapt upward with supernatural force, clinging to the wires and machinery above the pit. 

Vader walked over as smoke obscured the hole, looking inside as if waiting to see what it would do to her. 

“Perhaps you are not as strong as the Emperor thought.” 

_ And perhaps  _ you _ can kiss my ass _ , Leia thought darkly, but she capped her fury before it could get away from her.  _ Stay calm, Leia. _

She climbed higher, and suddenly Vader caught on. He stared up at her as she expertly maneuvered herself away from him. She hadn’t thought that her vine climbing with Yoda would come in handy so soon. That was a brilliant little frog. 

“Impressive,” Vader commented. He swung the lightsaber her way, so close that she could feel the heat even through her fatigues. It struck a tube instead, sending smoke pouring into the room. “Most impressive.”

Leia grabbed a loose gear, throwing it at Vader before dropping to the ground. Years of practice throwing things at Biggs ensured that she nailed him right in the helmet. It gave her a split second to drop to the ground and call her lightsaber. It came naturally, fitting perfectly into her hand. 

She turned the smoke on Vader to obscure his vision while she used her other hand to swing her lightsaber at his head. If he wasn’t a Force user, she would have been guaranteed to make contact. But the Sith Lord was well practiced in the ways of the Force. He blocked her blow easily. 

For a moment, they just strained against one another, their lightsabers locked between them in a blue and red X. 

“Obi-Wan has taught you well,” Vader told her. Not wanting to listen to him, Leia shoved his lightsaber away and aimed for his legs. He blocked, striking at her repeatedly and forcing her to defend herself. “You have controlled your anger. But it makes you weak.”

He struck at her in a series of lightning fast hits, forcing Leia to back up as she defended herself. She was careful to avoid the pit. She didn’t know what it would do to her, but she wasn’t about to find out. The Force surged through her, and she allowed it to carry away all her anger, all the hate built up inside her against this man. It wasn’t the Jedi way. 

“You need that hate if you are to defeat me,” Vader told her between strikes. “It saved you once.” 

“What are you talking about?” The words came from behind gritted teeth. She barely had enough space in her mind to listen to him. 

“I almost shot you down on the Death Star,” he said. Leia struck at him, circling the pit and glaring at him with cold eyes. “I was lined up, but your anger surprised me.” He swung a particularity vicious attack against her, which she returned with equal ferocity. “It was that moment that I knew you would make the perfect apprentice.” 

“I will  _ never _ be your apprentice,” she said venomously. 

She resisted the urge to attack him directly, not when he had pissed her off so much. He had the audacity to think that she would be his perfect little project just because she had bested him on the Death Star. If he thought she would serve him after he hurt her friends, he was a lunatic. Instead, she leapt over him, executing a front flip over his head, twisting at the last moment to face him as she landed. 

It only surprised him for a moment. Soon enough he was coming after her again, and she fought with all her might. But even Yoda’s expert training had its limits. So much physical exertion had tugged dozens of hairs from her braid, and they were now plastered to her forehead with sweat. Her muscles ached. She threw everything she had into a swift attack, full of aggressive stabs that forced Vader to retreat. When she forced him backwards far enough, she yelled, kicking him in the chest. 

It threw him backwards off the platform with a cry, leaving Leia standing at the edge. He disappeared into the darkness, his black suit blending in perfectly. Leia panted for a long moment, bending over as she tried to get her breath back. All she wanted to do right now was lay down for an hour or so, but she knew that the fall likely hadn’t killed Vader. It would be too easy. So after a few seconds of exhaustion, she straightened, wiping her forehead with the sleeve of her fatigues. Deactivating her lightsaber, she found a safe place off to the side, and stepped off the platform. 

Darkness swallowed her for a moment, and she half considered igniting the blade just for the light it would offer. But the Force was with her still. It gently guided her to a lighter landing, showed her the way. She followed it into a tunnel of light. 

Leia took slow breaths as she walked through the brilliant tunnel, feeling the warmth of the Force. The further that she reached into that calm, the more she found peace. It carried away her rage and hate, dissipating it to nothing. In return, she found strength. She was aching and exhausted, but determined to continue. She would see this through. 

The moment she stepped down and out of the tunnel, it closed behind her with a loud clang. She winced. There went any chance of catching an injured Vader by surprise. 

She entered the room. A triangular hallway led into endlessness in one direction, but she could see little else of the room. It’s only light came from a large circular window, but the sun wasn’t visible from here, so only the city lights outside provided any view of her surroundings. 

Darth Vader could have easily been mistaken for another piece of machinery in the darkness of the room, save for the identifying sound of his breathing. Leia saw him approaching along the black and white stripes of the floor, overtaking them slowly but steadily. 

She leapt into a defensive position, igniting her lightsaber. The anger deep inside her screamed for her to run at him, attack and fight, but she shut that side of her down. The light side of the Force would be her ally. If she couldn’t beat him just using the light, she didn’t deserve to be a Jedi. 

The red of his lightsaber lit the room, and she kept her eyes on it. She was starting to get an understanding of his style of fighting. 

But just when her confidence came, it was blown away as a large piece of machinery ripped off the wall, flying towards her. She dodged, spinning to slice it in half. In that moment, Vader surged forward, striking at her again and again. It seemed he had no qualms about killing her now that she refused to be his apprentice. The thought made a tremor of fear shiver up her spine, but she ignored it. She blocked his blows with an increasing desperation, but her face betrayed none of it. 

She watched Vader with hard eyes, trying to not let him see how she was struggling to hold him back. But as she focused, a box flew from the floor and struck her head. Pain exploded on her cheekbone and the side of her head. Blood immediately poured from the wound, falling down the side of her face like tears. 

Vader seemed to understand that she hadn’t prepared for this, so he stepped back, instead using the Force to throw object after object her way. Yoda had focused more on the Force than fighting, so her only lightsaber training had been with Ben and the practice that she did on her own in the three years since his death. She had mastered many types of fighting, but she had never prepared for giant object to be thrown her way. 

The cold fear grew further up her spine like ice, freezing up her back. She desperately tried to dodge the items, but there were so many, all coming from different directions. She managed to leap to the side as a particularly large set of steel pipes flew her way, but it shattered the window instead. 

The change was instantaneous. It was like a hurricane formed from the shattered window, sucking everything in the room outside. In her weakened state, there was little that Leia could do to stop her small frame from being yanked through the opening. Small pieces of glass cut her fatigues and hands as she flew. 

The fall seemed to last both a few seconds and a lifetime. She twisted through the air, struggling to orient herself in the twister of wind and glass shards. The air whistled past her ears, her braid whipping around wildly as she fell. Then, she saw her lifeline: a strong steel railing. She stretched her hands out, snagging the metal. The inertia of her falling body yanked at her wrists, ripping an agonized scream from her throat as her arms and shoulders seemed to stretch beyond the point of healing. With a painful yank, she hauled herself onto the walkway, her biceps sweaty and shaking as she hauled her full weight to safety. 

For a moment, all she could do was lay on the grate, thoroughly exhausted. But Vader wasn’t beaten yet. That meant that she had to get up again. A trembling hand braced against the grate walkway, slowly shoving her to her feet. Her vision spun for a moment, due to the concussion most likely. The bleeding from her cheek had slowed at least, leaving an ever thickening dried path of blood running from her face to fatigues. Her arms were sore and tired, strained from the fight and the physical exertion of pulling herself up from oblivion. 

But Leia Skywalker still stood up. She groaned from the myriad bruises running along her body, shook a little as she reached for her lightsaber, but she stood up. She was not beaten yet. 

  
  


The escape plan wasn’t going well either. Stormtroopers were right on their tail no matter where they ran. Lando took the front, Luke right behind him. Threepio proved somewhat useful on Chewbacca’s back. He had a habit of shrieking out whenever he saw Imps getting close, which proved to be a useful early warning system for Chewie. Who said that an anxiety ridden droid backpack couldn’t come in handy?

They finally made their way to a door, but when Lando tried to open it, the panel beeped angrily. 

“The security codes have been changed,” Lando said, pressing the console frantically. Chewie roared in protest, hitting the door in frustration. 

“Artoo, you can tell the computer to override the security system,” Threepio suggested looking towards the panel. Luke grinned at the protocol droid. He was being so helpful today. 

Artoo beeped, rolling over and putting his computer arm into the socket that Threepio had noticed. In the meantime, Lando moved over to a separate wall panel, pressing a few buttons on it. Luke watched him quizzically. Was there another way out? Instead, he pulled out a comms system, holding it to his mouth. 

“Attention,” he called, and the words echoed over speakers throughout the city. “This is Lando Calrissian. The Empire has taken control of the city. I advise everyone to leave before more Imperial troops arrive.”

With that, he put the intercom microphone back into the wall. When he turned back to the rest of the group, Luke was smiling at him. The prince nodded approvingly. Lando returned the smile, nodding back. Of all Lando’s charming features, Luke admired his dedication to his people most. He was a good man. 

Their moment was interrupted by Artoo’s shrieking beeps. He shuddered and beeped as electricity flooded through him. Chewie yanked him away. His dome spun wildly, smoke flaring from every crack in the metal. 

[You mother _ fucker _ !] He beeped angrily at Threepio. [That was a power socket!]

“Well don’t blame me,” the droid huffed. “I’m an interpreter. I’m not supposed to know a power socket from a computer terminal.” 

“This way,” Lando instructed, hurrying further down the hall. The droids continued to sass one another even as they hurried towards the  _ Falcon _ . 

Panic had overtaken the city. People ran back and forth, all of them having gathered the most important things in their lives before hurrying to transports. Families held hands as they ran, and one man had inexplicably grabbed an ice cream machine and was sprinting down the hall with it. To each their own, Luke supposed. The chaos distracted the stormtroopers, making it easier for everyone to escape. Chewie shot every trooper that got in their way, making sure that none of them were followed. 

They finally reached another door, and Artoo was able to connect to the city computer. Chewie and Luke stood with their backs to him while Lando started trying to input the codes manually. Luke caught a glimpse of a stormtrooper lining up a shot from around a corner. He grabbed Lando’s arm, yanking him away from the wall just as the panel exploded from a blaster shot. 

“Watch out,” he warned, pushing him back. “Artoo, hurry up!” 

“What are you talking about?” Threepio asked Artoo. He had been paying more attention to Artoo than anyone else. They were all too busy trying to avoid being shot by stormtroopers. “We’re not interested in the hyperdrive on the Millennium Falcon. It’s fixed! Just open the door, you stupid lump!”

[Got it!] Artoo beeped triumphantly. The door rose, revealing their ship waiting on the platform. Chewie roared for Lando and Luke to come on, and they hurried after him towards the ship. 

“I never doubted you for a second!” Threepio lied. “Wonderful!”

Artoo covered their backs from the stormtroopers by releasing a giant cloud of smoke. For a moment, Luke worried he wouldn’t be able to make it out, but he emerged from the smoke shortly after, hightailing it to the ship. He gestured for the droid to hurry while he and Lando shot at stormtroopers. 

“Chewie, get the ship started!” Luke yelled. 

Chewbacca roared, struggling to get up the ramp with Threepio on his back. Artoo followed right after. Luke and Lando took refuge outside the ship. It was rare for him to be involved in combat situations, but he had gotten good with a blaster. Every shot that he fired took down a stormtrooper, a deadly focus in his blue eyes. 

“Lando, go!” He started making his way to the ramp. “Chewie needs a copilot!” 

Even saying the words made his chest ache. He couldn’t believe that they were leaving without Han. He followed Lando up the ramp, hitting the button to close it up so that they could leave. The shields flickered up shortly after, protecting them from the incoming storm of blaster fire from the stormtroopers. 

As Chewie and Lando got the ship ready to fly off, Luke stared out the front window of the ship, wishing that Leia would come running out of the smoke to join them. The last time he had seen her, she was walking right into Vader’s trap. 

He couldn’t leave her. But what could he do? He wasn’t a smuggler or a Jedi, he couldn’t do anything to protect his friends in the first place. How would he ever find Leia in the enormous Cloud City? 

He sank down into a chair and closed his eyes, despair threatening to overcome him for a moment. He couldn’t believe that he had lost Han. It felt like the ground was shaking under his feet all over again. All his support seemed to be taken from him: his family, his home, Han. Maybe even Leia. 

No. He couldn’t lose Leia too. He had to find her. By the Force, he would– 

His eyes snapped open. The Force. If he could feel Vader in the Force, he had to be able to feel Leia too. She was way more important than him. He just had to try and find her, find that feeling of comfort and happiness that he got whenever she was nearby. 

Luke took a deep breath, grabbing onto the back of Chewie’s chair to stabilize himself. Closing his eyes, he tried to reach for the warm feeling of the Force. He had been able to use it a few times, but never intentionally like this. He tried to remember how it felt to connect with it, to feel the warm strength become a part of him. 

Despite the grief that had threatened to drown him, he felt a sense of peace wrap around him, like a warm embrace. He gasped softly at the feeling, wanting to melt into it. His hand lifted slightly into the air, making Lando give him an odd look. He reached out into the warm feeling. 

“Leia.” Her name was barely audible as it passed through his lips. Memories of her flashes through his mind as he struggled to find her presence in the Force. Leia rescuing him. The bright smile beaming across her face when she returned from blowing up the Death Star. The gentleness in her eyes when she woke him up from a nightmare. The viciousness that she had fought with when they were captured by a bounty hunter. He reached for everything he loved about her: her ferocity, her drive, her warmth. 

An image that wasn’t his memory passed behind his eyes. Leia brandishing her lightsaber at Darth Vader in a dark hallway, the pale blue glow lighting up her face. She struggled to defend herself, and he could feel her aching pain. And somewhere in his chest, Luke felt a tug, back towards the city. 

He let out a sharp breath as he opened his eyes, processing the feeling. Leia was still fighting Vader in Cloud City. He could feel her there. 

In however long it took him to find her in the Force, Chewie and Lando had apparently taken off. They were flying above the delicate pink of the clouds, staring at a beautiful multicolored sunset. Too bad they wouldn’t be enjoying it for long. 

“Turn around,” he ordered, standing. He clung to the feeling of Leia, making sure he would be able to find her as they returned to the city. 

“What?” Lando said, turning on him with wide eyes. “Are you crazy? What about those fighters?” 

“We’re going back for Leia,” Luke said firmly. He touched Chewie lightly on the shoulder. “Chewie, please.” 

Chewbacca looked at him briefly, then roared in unhappy agreement, flipping them over a cloud and turning back towards the city. Luke squeezed his shoulder in thanks, turning and leaving the cockpit. 

“Wait, what?” Lando protested, following the prince out. He couldn’t believe this. Everyone on this ship was crazier than Han. “We just escaped, now you want to go back?” 

“Leia is still there.” He didn’t turn back, focusing on preparing the first aid kit and clearing off their spare bunk. He had an uneasy feeling that Leia would need it after her confrontation with Vader. 

“What about Vader?” Lando pressed, right on his heels. 

“Leia rescued me from him once,” Luke replied easily. “It’s only right to return the favor.” 

“Luke, I’m sorry about Skywalker, I really am, but our only chance to survive is to get out of here,” he pleaded. After seeing how easily Darth Vader had destroyed the life he loved in Cloud City, Lando didn’t want anything to do with him ever again. 

Luke whirled on him, his blue eyes sparking with anger. Lando took a step back. It was incredibly unnerving whenever the prince’s face narrowed to that unyielding stare. Seeing it that first time, right after he had turned them in to Vader, had shaken Lando to his core, enough so that he was able to make the decision to resist the Empire almost right away. 

“Darth Vader has taken everything from me,” Luke snapped, an uncharacteristic fury coloring his words. “He took my home, my family, and now–” His voice broke. “Now the man that I love.” His voice hardened again, and he stepped closer to Lando, determination in his eyes. “He does not get to take my best friend. Do I make myself clear?” 

All that Lando could do was nod, stepping back and staring at the prince with a new understanding. As young as the boy seemed, he really was royalty, right to his core. It was incredible. 

Luke’s expression softened slightly, and he glanced back at the door leading to the cockpit. “Help Chewie pilot, please. It’s nearly impossible to fly this ship alone.” 

With that, he turned back to clearing off the bunk. After a moment, Lando walked back to the cockpit, practically falling back into his chair beside Chewie. That prince was really something. Lando was impressed with the handsome young man right when he arrived, but the more he saw of Luke, the more he realized that he wasn’t just a pretty face. He was a leader. 

  
  


Leia crept through a darkened hall, the same triangular one that she had seen earlier. Her lightsaber was out, lighting up the space in front of her. She clutched the metal hilt tightly, hoping that it would give her strength. If she was also doing it to hide the fact that her hands were slightly trembling, she didn’t admit that to herself. This was her father’s lightsaber; it would protect her. 

Darth Vader suddenly leapt out from behind a column, swinging his red lightsaber at her with a deadly vigor. She dodged backwards, struggling to defend herself against his violent strikes. He never faltered. Had she even tired him out? She was exhausted and in pain and it didn’t seem like anything she had done affected him at all. 

His aggressive attack forced her backwards. Between defending herself from his lightsaber, she couldn’t even get the strength to strike back at him. It was all she could do to stay alive. They emerged from the tunnel, back into the open air of Cloud City. The winds were freezing, whipping her braid over her shoulder. 

This was nothing like the fighting that they had done earlier. At first, Vader had just toyed with her, letting her strike the first blow again and again, but now he was unleashing the full strength of his ferocity on her. Leia wasn’t one to admit fear, but this was terrifying. He was truly a force of nature. Whenever he missed, sparks exploded from the railings, leaving the metal grotesquely hanging off the narrow platform. Leia’s breath caught in her throat. This was a dead end. She would have no chance of escape. 

Fear wrapping around her throat, she tried to rush him, leaping forward and swinging her lightsaber at his head. He blocked it, and for a second they were locked together, body to body. She grit her teeth, straining against him. But he was two heads taller, and half machine. He overpowered her easily, shoving her backwards. 

Leia’s bruises flared in pain as she fell back, quickly finding his lightsaber at her throat. She glared up at him, her eyes burning. 

“You are beaten,” he hissed. She scrambled backwards on her elbows, trying to get away from him. “It is useless to resist. Don’t let yourself be destroyed as Obi-Wan did.” 

She snarled at him viciously, hitting his lightsaber away with her own. She shoved herself to her feet, attacking at him with an increased vigor. She was  _ not _ beaten. She would never let this man get the better of her. Rage poured into her veins, a cold power leaping into her body. 

She ducked away as he brought down the lightsaber like a hammer, tearing a gaping hole in the grated floor. She blocked a few blows with a new strength, but quickly found an opening. She jabbed at his shoulder, and sparks flew as he roared in pain. A dark smile tore across her face. So he wasn’t invulnerable after all. 

She leapt over the railing, landing lightly on the narrow support beam that stretched out to a large piece of machinery. Vader’s lightsaber immediately sheared away the pipes beside her, sending them falling into an endless abyss. She ducked and swung at him again, only using one hand so she could brace herself with the railing. 

He blocked her blow, then twisted sharply, snaking down the blade and chopping off her right hand in one swift stroke. It and the lightsaber were swept away by the wind almost instantly. 

Leia screamed. The pain in her forearm was excruciating, but there was more than that. She still felt as if her hand was there, searing with pain. She had to look at the stump to truly realize it was gone. Gritting her teeth against any other cries of pain, she tucked it in her armpit in spite of the spike of pain that shot up her arm. It was cauterized; she could smell her own charred flesh. Bile rose in her throat. At least she wouldn’t bleed out. 

Her knees weakened, and she curled up on the gantry, glaring up at Vader, pain and fear mixed into her usual fury. He towered over her, menacing and cold as a Star Destroyer. Squashing her pride for a moment, she inched backwards on the gantry to get away from him. The effort was pitiful, and he noticed. 

“There is no escape,” he told her. The lightsaber at his side seemed to hum in agreement. “Don’t make me destroy you.” 

Her eyes burned with hate. It was terrifying, trying to crawl backwards on a beam only a few inches wide, with one less hand to stabilize herself, but she had to get out of striking range. Anything to stay alive. 

“Leia,” he said. Her stomach curled at the sound of her name coming from such a monster. It wasn’t even said as she would expect it to sound, with hate and cruelty. He didn’t sound cruel or unkind, which put her on edge. “You do not yet realize your importance. You have only begun to discover your power. Join me, and I will complete your training. With our combined strength, we can end this destructive conflict and bring order to the galaxy.” 

She spat at him, and it would have nailed him right in his stupid mask if it wasn’t for the strong winds carrying it away. “I’ll never join you!” 

“If only you knew the power of the dark side.” Leia scoffed, rolling her eyes as she lowered herself onto a tiny platform, barely enough for her feet, at the complete far end of the gantry. Anything to convince him that she wanted no part of his offer. 

“I want nothing of the dark side!” She shot back. A small voice in the back of her head reminded her that her rage had gotten the better of her more than once during this fight, but he didn’t need to hear that. She may have used the dark side a few times, but she chose the light. Shouldn’t that be what mattered? 

“Obi-Wan never told you what happened to your father,” Vader continued as if he didn’t even hear her. 

She turned, scowling at him. “I know enough!  _ You _ killed him.” 

She had always known that Vader killed her father, and her later father figure. He just couldn’t stop taking the people that she loved from her. If he thought that was going to be a surprise, he had another thing coming. 

“No,” Vader replied, eerily calm. “I am your father.” 

His words seemed to punch Leia in the gut, and she swayed on the platform, barely clinging to a pipe with her good hand. She shook her head frantically, a terrible mixture of feelings rising in her chest, wrapping around her throat. Her breathing quickened, although it was suddenly much harder to draw breath in. 

“No,” she whispered, her voice stolen from her. It was barely audible over the winds. “No. That’s not true. That’s impossible.” 

She couldn’t be the daughter of a  _ thing _ like that. She couldn’t be the child of someone who had brought her and her friends so much pain, someone who orchestrated the genocide of billions of people. That couldn’t be in her veins. Her father was an ace pilot, a good man. He had died protecting the children of the Jedi temple from Vader. All the fantasies that she had created during long nights with the Rebellion burst into nothingness, leaving only the armored death machine before her. 

“Search your feelings,” Vader told her, the words suddenly gentle, almost parental. “You know it to be true.”

And it was. As much as Leia hated it, the Force sang of the truth in his words. Suddenly, so much made sense. Yoda hadn’t wanted to teach her, because she was so much like her father. Because he saw Vader’s anger in her. Even the cave had known, had showed her the truth without her even realizing it. All her rage, her hate, everything that wasn’t the Jedi part of her, it was standing right in front of her in the form of a monster. 

A monster that was part of her. The bile rose in her throat again, stronger this time. She looked away from him, groaning. She hated him. She hated Ben for lying to her. She hated herself for sharing DNA with the bane of the galaxy. 

“Leia, come with me,” he urged. “Your mother was a queen, but I will make you an Empress. I will give you the galaxy.”

Her breath caught in her throat, and she stared up at him with reddened eyes. Her mother. He knew of her mother, and nobody could tell her anything about her mother. Ben had probably known, but he never told her. Questions rose to her lips, but she bit them back. She didn’t need him to find out about her mom, she didn’t want anything to do with him. 

“Join me, my daughter,” he almost pleaded, stepping out onto the beam. Leia shuddered, wishing she could shrink back further. He extended a black gloved hand towards her, an offering. “It is the only way.”

Leia turned away from the offer, closing her eyes and pressing her forehead against the pole of the gantry. She wanted to scream, cry, to grab Vader’s lightsaber from his hand and slice him to bits for taking even the fantasy of her parents from her. Everything that she thought her family was, everything that she thought she was, all shattered with four words. 

Opening her eyes, she glared at him, a raging wildfire in her brown eyes. She had no way of knowing that it took her father aback, seeing the hate inside him reflected in Padmé’s face. All she knew was that she refused to join him, give into him. Everything that he had done to her, it was too much for her to even consider standing beside him. She would rather die. 

“Fuck you,” she hissed, a lifetime of hate poured into the words. With that, she shoved herself off the gantry and allowed herself to fall into the endless void. 

Immediately the winds battered her around wildly. Lights raced past her as she fell into an endless darkness. She didn’t even have the energy to close her eyes, just watching the black figure of Vader grow smaller and smaller against the railing. 

Likely this would kill her, but that might be okay. A hopeless unhappiness settled in her chest. Everything she thought she knew about herself had been shattered. Everything that was left, she could see the direct path to Darth Vader. 

But the winds drew her towards one of the red lined openings glowing on the wall, sending her spinning down an exhaust pipe. Suddenly her free fall turned into a dark slide, lit up only by the small circles of lights every few feet. Surprised by the sudden change, Leia scrambled for a handhold with her one good hand. Finally she skidded to a stop, groaning. 

Everything ached even more, sitting here. But the bruises didn’t even compare to the pain in her chest, the tornado of her emotions making her want to just sit here and cry for a few hours. 

But evidently the Force did not feel the same way. The floor sharply dropped out from beneath her, sending her sliding down yet another tube. She hit the sides, groaning as each snap made the blinding headache flare further. 

Then she was free falling again, this time into the clouds of open space. She shrieked, barely having the alertness to grab onto the electric weather vane. Her back hit it, making her yell in pain. She hauled herself up with her good hand, tears of frustration pricking at the corners of her eyes. 

If she could just make it back to the opening, she could hide somewhere safe until… whatever, she would figure that part out once she wasn’t hanging above an abyss. This was such a vulnerable position, she could fall, or worse, Vader could find her. 

She struggled up the weather vane, barely able to climb with her one hand. It was almost impossible, her aching muscles tired from the fight and the fall. She strained up the slender poles, barely able to get a grip. Her hand tore with rips, but she grit her teeth and forced herself to ignore the pain and the seemingly endless drop beneath her. The beauty of the gold and blue clouds contrasted heavily with the terror of the situation. 

She stretched out her hand to the metal edge of the opening, struggling to get a grip. With a few more seconds, she would have been able to pull herself up, but it was like even the machinery hated her. It closed with a hiss, pulling away and out of her grip. 

Without the opening to even brace against, Leia’s weight tipped her over and she fell further down, barely clinging to the pole with her legs. She helplessly hung from the weather vane. From this position, she couldn’t even pull herself up. Her legs and abs were barely enough to keep her from falling into the abyss. 

Terrified and angry, she screamed, all her rage pouring out of her in a long, echoing cry. Back in the cockpit of the  _ Falcon _ , Luke’s knees crumpled as Leia’s pain hit him. He groaned, pressing a hand to his temple, barely feeling Lando’s hands on his shoulder, the muffled sound of the man asking what was wrong. 

“Leia,” he whispered hoarsely, pressing a hand to his chest. He could feel her, knew where she was. Force, she was in so much pain. “Beneath the city. Hurry.”

Leia’s scream broke off into a sob. She was alone, helpless. Nobody would be there for her, nobody even knew where she was except for Vader, and if she saw him coming, she would let go of her lifeline. 

Maybe that was still an option, honestly. How could she be sure that she was doing good for the Rebellion if she had Vader’s blood in her veins? She had connections to the dark side, which explained why it always came to her so easily. It would be so simple for her to fall into the path of darkness. What if she couldn’t stop it? What if the best way to protect the galaxy was to remove herself from the equation?

Just when despair threatened to overcome her, familiar engines whirred nearby. Leia’s heart leapt into her throat. Was it Vader? Had he found her? 

But it was the familiar sight of the  _ Millennium Falcon _ that rose from the clouds. Warm hope rose into Leia, banishing her dread and terror. Chewie was right there in the window, waving a paw at her. As it pulled beneath her, a man rose in a beam of golden light from the ship. 

“Leia,” he called, stepping onto the roof. A long cord attached him to the ship, keeping him safe from falling into the abyss. “Luke sent me.”

That was all it took for Leia to trust him. She allowed herself to drop from the weather vane and onto the ship. 

When Lando brought Leia inside, Chewie immediately got them flying away, dodging the Empire’s ships as best he could. Luke left him at the controls and ran to where his best friend had come inside. Lando had an arm around her, guiding her down the hallway. 

Leia glanced up as a warm presence in the Force came closer to her. Her eyes met Luke’s right as he came into sight, and they both lit up into relieved smiles, despite their injured states.

“Luke!”

“Leia!”

Luke ran forward, unceremoniously crashing into her and wrapping her in the tightest hug. She practically fell into his arms, clinging to him with equal ferocity. Lando took that moment to slip past them and hurry to the cockpit to join Chewbacca. 

For a long moment, all they could do was hold one another, frozen in the moment of relief that they felt at being together again. Despite everything that had happened on Cloud City, Luke suddenly felt safe again, content in the arms of his best friend. Leia felt as if the ground was back beneath her feet, stable and at home at last. The unconscious empty feeling inside them was suddenly whole, just as long as they were together. 

Despite his happiness at being back with Leia, Luke knew that she had suffered so much. While she was happy to see him, he knew that she was only holding on so tightly because she couldn’t fully stand on her own. He had seen bruises and cuts on her face, pale and distraught. As he held her close, he was suddenly aware that she was trembling, shaken to the core about something. 

“Luke I was so scared.” The words poured out of Leia in a rush, and Luke’s heart shattered at how broken and terrified the words were. Leia was so strong, so fearless. What had happened that hurt her this much? Had Vader destroyed her so quickly? “I was just hanging there, I thought I was going to die, I almost wanted–”

“Leia, I would never leave you,” he promised. He pulled away, his heart aching as he looked over her shattered features. To his horror, her eyes were shiny with tears. He brushed a stray hair from her face, cupping her cheek gently. “Remember what I told you after the Death Star? You’re family. And we don’t leave family behind.”

He had meant for the words to give her a sense of belonging, a promise that he would always be there for her, but for some reason that he couldn’t fathom, she instantly burst into tears. 

“Oh, what did I say? Leia, no, I’m so sorry.” Luke panicked and wrapped her into another tight hug, holding her close. Her shoulders shook with sobs, and she pressed her face against his collarbone to muffle the sound. His snow jacket quickly dampened with her tears. 

Clearly, Vader had said or done something to Leia. It must have been awful, because in all their years of working together, he had never seen her like this. Leia rarely even cried after being shot. This was entirely new ground. 

Hot anger flared up in Luke’s chest for a moment, a rage against the man who had hurt his best friend so much. Vader would pay for this. He would never get his hands on Leia again, Luke would make sure of that. She spent so much time protecting him; now it was his turn. 

The anger faded from his focus, replaced by a heavy grief for his best friend and a worry about her injuries. Helping her was the important thing right now. Revenge on Vader was a problem that would be dealt with once he was sure that Leia was okay. 

“Let’s get you healed up, yeah?” He said softly, gently running a hand over her hair. She nodded into his shoulder, sniffing. Reluctantly, they pulled out of the hug. Her tears mostly stopped, leaving her shell-shocked and silent, unable to talk. Luke helped her over to the bed, gently easing her up into it so she could lay down. It was then that he noticed the worst injury. 

“Oh, Leia…” he whispered, his eyes locked on the place that her right hand used to be. It was just a stump now, cauterized in the way that only one type of injury could be. This was a lightsaber wound. She tried to smile, to reassure him that she was fine, but it was shaky. He leaned forward, pressing his lips to her forehead for a long moment. His poor friend. 

He started with that, getting a portable bacta sleeve and easing it onto her arm, buckling it in place so it would stay. Everything else was more surface wounds, bruises and cuts from the fight. There was a particularly large cut on her cheek. Overall, she was just weak and aching, from what he could see. But there was something more, something that Vader had said to her. He had done something that shattered her. 

Luke didn’t press. He just carefully pulled a blanket over her body, stroked back the sweaty strands of hair from her face. He was in the middle of dabbing her face with a wet cloth when the ship shook violently. It made him stumble, but he stayed on his feet. 

“I’ll be right back, I promise,” he said softly. He squeezed her good hand gently, heading to the cockpit. 

Leia’s eyes fluttered slightly as exhaustion finally took over. It seeped into her bones, making every limb feel unbearably heavy. She struggled to hold onto Luke’s hand as he was leaving, but she was too weakened to keep a good grip. His name whispered past her lips, inaudible over the sound of the engines. 

Even if her rescue had brought her back from the brink, she was still overwhelmed with unhappiness and despair. Darth Vader was her father. The more she thought about it, the more it made sense. Her deep-set anger, the familiar way that Ben had seemed to know Vader, the way that Yoda hadn’t wanted to teach her. She couldn’t even say that she was nothing like him, because she could see so much of herself in him. 

She had thought she knew what horror was. She thought it was the same thing as fear. But this was more than fear. This was a nauseating cold that permeated deep into her bones, that twisted everything she thought she knew about herself until it was all grotesque and awful. This kind of horror was looking at the monster and realizing it was a mirror. Spiders of self loathing ran up and down her skin, and as much as she wished she could brush them off, they were always there. 

A choked sob ripped from her throat, and she turned her face to the wall, wishing she was anywhere else.

  
  


In the cockpit, Luke stared up at the looming star destroyer with his heart in his throat. They had gotten away from the city, but the Empire was still out there, still determined to come after them. Based on the cold coming from the ship, Vader was there too. He wouldn’t stop until he had Leia. A rare scowl crossed the prince’s face. He would never get his hands on Luke’s family again. 

“All right Chewie, ready for lightspeed,” Lando said. The Wookiee had put in the coordinates, so hopefully they were on the path to escape. But there had been too much trouble in the past few days for him to truly trust that they were free. 

“If your people fixed the hyperdive,” he muttered. He trusted Lando, even liked him, but so much had gone wrong today that he was afraid to hope. “It’s now or never.”

“Punch it!” Lando said, just as confident as Han always was. 

Instead of the stars streaking away, the engine whirred pitifully to no result. Luke and Chewie slowly turned to one another, beyond annoyed. Then they turned to Lando with matching faces of irritation. 

Blaster fire flashed outside the front window. The ship shuddered. They were truly, royally, screwed. 

Chewbacca roared angrily, shaking his fists and yelling at length about how the  _ Falcon _ should be better than this. He yelled at Lando too, but it was frustration at the situation more than the man. Luke collapsed into his usual chair behind the pilot’s seat, pressing his palms to his eyes to prevent further tears. He couldn’t cry, not now. Even if things seemed completely hopeless. 

“They told me they fixed it!” Lando protested, shooting from his chair and checking the instruments lining the walls of the cockpit. “I trusted them! It’s not my fault!”

Even in this situation, Luke couldn’t help the small smile that tugged at the edges of his lips. He could see why Lando and Han were friends. 

Chewie roared, storming out of the cockpit. He jumped into the floor to try fixing the machinery under the floor, banging at it angrily with a wrench. If it fixed the problem, fantastic. If it didn’t, it was certainly helping his frustration at this whole nightmare. 

  
  


On the viewing level of the star destroyer, Darth Vader watched the  _ Millennium Falcon _ spin through space. It carried his daughter and everyone she cared about. Catching it would ensure that he could control her, since she clearly couldn’t make the right choice for herself. 

“Leia,” he said quietly, sending the name echoing through the Force. 

In the bunk of the  _ Falcon _ , Leia flinched hard, jerking up so violently that her head hit the lowered ceiling. Thank the Force it was padded. Realizing what she just heard, she whimpered quietly, rolling onto her side and pressing her good hand over her ear, as if it could block Vader away. Tears rolled from the corners of her eyes as she squeezed them shut. 

“Go away,” she whispered, her voice sounding young and scared. She rarely sounded like this even as a young child. She was always so full of fire. This kind of fear wasn’t normal for her. Vader had shaken her more than anything she could remember. 

“My daughter, come with me,” Vader urged. 

“Go _away_!” This time the words were yelled, frantic and loud enough to carry over the sounds of everyone else panicking. It brought Luke running back to her, worry in his eyes. The blaster was in his hand, as if he expected someone to be in there attacking her. When he realized they were alone, he tossed it aside, going over to her. 

“Leia, are you okay?” He asked, the words achingly gentle. He brushed the sweaty hairs from her forehead, his hand soft and gentle on her cheek. 

Seeing her like this terrified Luke. She had always been so strong, so capable. Nothing got the better of her. But she had never seemed so young and afraid. He had to protect her. 

Leia shook her head, her eyes still pressed shut. “No.” 

The ship shook again from blaster fire, making them both flinch. Leia’s eyes finally opened, and she forced herself to sit up, the bacta sleeve on her arm carefully held against her stomach. She met Luke’s worried blue eyes, a terrified knowledge on her face.

“It’s Vader,” she whispered, grabbing his hand. “He’s coming for me.” 

“No,” Luke said firmly, covering her hand and squeezing it between his own. He looked earnestly at her, a hard determination in his voice. “He’ll never lay a hand on you again, I promise.”

It certainly wasn’t something he could keep, but he would do his best. He would rather die than let the man of his nightmares go after his best friend. 

“Leia,” Vader’s voice echoed through the Force again, making her flinch. “It is your destiny.” 

Anger surged through her, and with Luke’s help, she stumbled to her feet, swaying and exhausted but beyond determined. He helped her to the cockpit, confused but wanting to support her. Leia did hate to be left out of the action, maybe she just wanted to see what was happening from the cockpit. 

He didn’t know that she was projecting her rage through the Force, directing one stubborn thought towards Darth Vader. 

_ You have no say in my destiny _ , she thought fiercely, bloody determination weighing down the sentence. 

That thought echoed in her mind as she fell down into the seat behind Chewbacca’s. She was too weak to stand, but she glared at the star destroyer through the window. No matter what blood pumped through her veins, Darth Vader did not get to decide her destiny. She would choose her own path. Maybe she would make mistakes. Maybe she would fail. But she would do everything she could to stay away from the dark side and Vader. 

Shortly afterwards, everyone was thrown backwards as the  _ Millennium Falcon _ rocketed into lightspeed, taking them into hyperspace and away from Vader and his blockade. Despite the surprise at being thrown backwards, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. 

Against all odds, they managed to escape. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! First off, big shout out to everyone who commented. I didn't get back to you fast, but I want you to know that every time I got an email with your comments, it would make me so happy. Y'all helped me through the holidays and I really appreciate that, so thank you :D
> 
> I hope you like this chapter! Lots of angst, lots of hurt, always fun to write. I will likely do one more chapter to address some of the aftermath, just like I did with A New Hope. As always, comments are loved and appreciated. Happy reading!!!


	7. Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luke and Leia discuss some hard truths because SIBLING BONDING DAMMIT

Once they arrived back with the fleet, Luke couldn’t focus on anything other than Leia. He had to worry about taking care of her right now. Vader had shattered her, and Luke knew better than anyone else how that felt. Besides, out of the two people that he loved, one was gone, maybe forever. He had to focus on the one he had left. 

“Your highness, where have you been?” General Dodonna demanded, meeting them where Home One connected to the Falcon. He stopped upon seeing Leia, clinging to Luke to stand, bruised and bloody. She looked up at him, an empty look in her eyes beyond the blood on her face. It was enough to make the General stop, his mouth opening and closing for a moment. 

“I’ll brief you on everything shortly, General,” Luke said firmly, using the moment of shock to wave the man aside and help Leia towards the infirmary. She was the most important person to him right now. 

He kept his chin up, looking around coolly. When there was a crisis back on Alderaan, his mother was always so calm. She could dismiss people with just the look in her eyes, always dealing with the most terrifying situations with a straight back and a tall chin. Luke had always admired her effortless calm. 

He passed Mon Mothma, nodding politely to her but swiftly moving away with his friend. She smiled softly as she watched him go, very reminded of her old friend Breha Organa. Although he didn’t realize it, in that moment he was the very image of the former queen. Not in looks, but in manner. 

He escorted her back to the medical wing, finding the medical droid that had healed her back on Hoth, 2-1B. 

“Onebee,” he called, helping Leia into one of the private recovery rooms. They didn’t need everyone in the medical wing looking at her. He was the prince; he could get away with a little favoritism. “I need you in here.” 

Leia worked well with Onebee. He was short and to the point, always attempting to get his patients out as soon as they were healthy. Since she never liked to stay in the medical wings long, Leia liked that he shooed her out as soon as she was ready. Besides, he could usually heal wounds with little to no scar. 

Onebee removed the bacta sleeve, making Leia groan in pain. It was the first sound that she had made since Bespin. For the most part, she had retreated into herself, just silently staring ahead, her eyes broken and vacant. It seemed she couldn’t say anything. Luke watched Onebee start to attend to her, an aching sadness in his face. He hated seeing his best friend like this.

“Leia,” he said softly, curling his fingers around her own. She turned her face slightly towards him, but her eyes remained down, unable to meet his own. 

Luke had no way of knowing that Leia was still doubting her right to even be here, her choice to follow the Jedi path at all. The knowledge that Darth Vader was her father left her reeling, an aching pain in her heart that was impossible to ignore. But every time she wanted to tell Luke, to pour out the poisonous truth to him, something stopped her. What if the Rebellion didn’t want someone with her background to help them? What if they thought she would turn into her father? She wouldn’t even be able to reassure them that she wouldn’t, because she didn’t even know what she was capable of. 

Luke’s gentle voice snapped her out of her thoughts, but she was still unable to meet his gaze. His blue eyes were always so full of love and trust. She couldn’t bear that right now. 

“You’re home, Leia,” he continued, gently squeezing her hand. “You’re safe from him.”

He knew all too well how terrifying an encounter with Vader could be. He had been so focused on Leia, so determined to make her his apprentice. That had to be terrifying. There would be nothing he wasn’t willing to do in order to capture her and force her towards the dark side. What had he threatened her with to scare her so?

A single tear rolled down her cheek, and he reached up, gently wiping it away. But her fingers tightened ever so slightly around his own, a silent plea for him to stay with her. 

Luke remained standing beside the bed until Onebee was finished healing her up, stitching up her cuts and applying salve to her bruises. A new sleeve was placed on her arm, something to assist with the transition to an artificial hand. Normally, it was quite difficult to afford cybernetic parts, but Luke insisted. The Rebellion would need their best fighter at her full strength. 

“In a few hours, I will begin attaching the prosthetic hand,” Onebee said, turning away and leaving the room without another word. Luke shook his head. The droid was certainly efficient. 

Now that they were alone, he released Leia’s hand for a moment, pushing himself to sit up on the bed beside her. She adjusted her legs slightly to the side, allowing him room to sit facing her. For a moment, he just looked around the room, taking a deep breath while he thought about what to say. 

“Look,” he finally began, turning back to her. “I know you’ve been through a lot today, and if you don’t want to talk about it, I understand.” 

Force knew that he hadn’t wanted to talk about his experiences with Vader for the longest time. It had taken months of them knowing one another before he finally talked to Leia about his fears, admitted just how badly he had been hurt. After all, he was the face of the Rebellion in many ways. Leia shared that burden, which meant it would be equally difficult for her to talk about this. 

“But if you do want to talk, get it all out, I’m here,” he promised quietly. “If you want me to go, I will. But I can stay as long as you need me to.” 

Luke hesitated a moment after that, wanting to give her time to decide what she wanted. A long moment of silence stretched between them. Luke patiently waited as Leia mulled it over, quietly deciding what she needed. 

All that Leia could feel from Luke was love and support, in the same unconditional way that he had always been there for her. Just as firmly as she knew that the Tatooine suns would rise, she knew that he would never give up on her, no matter what. He was the only person that might understand. 

But he had also been tortured by Vader. She could remember how vividly he had explained the experience, one painful night after he had woken from a nightmare while they were on a mission together. The physical agony of the interrogation drug, the shattering heartbreak of Vader forcing him to watch Alderaan blow up. Finding out that Leia was his child would be like a punch to the face. 

“This kind of burden can grow heavy, over time,” Luke said softly, trying to meet her eyes. She avoided his gaze, wondering if he could read her mind. “I know. I’ve been through the same thing.”

_ Not quite _ , Leia thought miserably. She couldn’t keep it to herself any longer. This secret would choke her slowly, like vines on a tree, slowly taking away all her trust in herself until she was completely useless to the Rebellion. 

“He wanted me to join him.” When she finally spoke, the words were hoarse and watery, filled with pain. Tears dripped down her face again, Luke gently using his sleeve to wipe them away. “He told me he would make me an Empress.” 

The image flashed behind her eyes, of Vader reaching a hand out to her, promising her the entire galaxy, as if it was his own to gift to her. His words echoed in her mind, nausea racing up her throat. She groaned, turning to the side. She thought she would vomit, but nothing came. 

“Let me get you some water,” Luke said, starting to stand. 

“No.” Leia grabbed his arm with surprising strength, holding him in place. He blinked at her in surprise. There was determination on her face, mixed with pain. Onebee had given her more than enough medicine to take away the pain of her injuries, so this was something else. What was troubling her so? She had to say this now, while she still could, before fear forced her to bottle it up forever.  _ Fear leads to the dark side _ . She couldn’t give into it. “Luke, I have to tell you.”

Concern crossed his face, and he slowly pushed himself back onto the bed, reaching out to take her hand between his own. He didn’t say anything for the moment, just giving her time. 

Leia took a hitching breath, her hand trembling in his. Before she could even speak, tears dripped down her face. She closed her eyes for a moment, pressing her lips together while she gathered herself. 

“A-after he cut off my hand,” she said quietly, her chest heaving with barely suppressed panic. Anxiety swirled higher and higher up her throat, making it difficult to speak. “He could have killed me, but he didn’t. He told me… He told me he wanted me to join him.” She looked down, a sob ripping from her throat. “Because… Because he’s my father.”

She met his eyes then, a new fear in her eyes. Her shoulders were hunched, as if she was waiting for a strike. 

Luke blinked at her for a moment, confused. He shook his head, releasing her hand to brush a stray hair from her face, tucking it behind her ear and cupping her cheek gently. There was a galaxy of love in his eyes. 

“Leia, that’s ridiculous,” he told her. Obviously Vader had just been trying to mess with her head, and obviously it had worked. She was terrified. He had to set her at ease. “Your father was Anakin Skywalker, he died defending the Jedi younglings from Vader.”

“No, Luke.” Leia’s voice broke, and she grabbed his wrist, pulling it down from her face. Her lips pressed together, despair and unhappiness frozen around her heart. “It’s true. I don’t know how, but I felt it. Darth Vader…” Her voice shook. “Darth Vader is my father.” 

Luke pulled back as soon as Leia released his hand, a chasm of horror opening beneath his ribs. He knew what she was talking about; the Force had shown him the truth more than once. But his best friend, the person who listened to all of his fears and grief over the torture that he had faced, was the child of the man who destroyed him.    
  


He couldn’t breathe for a moment, feeling the beginnings of an anxiety attack crawling through his body. He closed his eyes, fighting back the panic. In its place, grief and sympathy crashed over him. 

Poor Leia. All this time, she had looked up to her father. Luke knew how much she admired him, how she hoped that he would be proud of her for all she had done for the Rebellion. He was the only person who knew that Leia sometimes listened for her father in the Force, hoping that he would speak to her the way that Ben sometimes did. Now all that hope and love was gone, replaced by a monster. 

When he opened his eyes, Luke abruptly recognized Leia’s posture. Shame and unhappiness came from her in waves, but an apprehensive fear was in her face. She was afraid, he realized. Not of Vader, but of Luke. Or more accurately, his reaction. She knew that he hated Vader, how much he blamed the man for his anxiety and nightmares. Now that she knew she was his daughter, she was worried that Luke wouldn’t want anything to do with her. 

After all she had suffered, Leia was still terrified that she was going to lose her best friend. 

Luke leapt forward on the bed, wrapping Leia in the tightest hug, pulling her close and trying to communicate all his love for her through the Force. No matter what her family was, all that mattered was what Leia herself had done for him. Who cared if Vader was her father? All that mattered was that she was  _ Leia _ , his best friend, his confidant, the person he trusted most in the world. 

“I love you, Leia,” he reminded her firmly, his voice tight with emotion. “Nothing would ever stop me from loving you. You’re my best friend.”

Her hands drifted around his back for a moment, unsure whether or not to hug him, but she wrapped her arms around him tightly, burying her face in his shoulder with a muffled sob. For a long moment, she could only cling to him, shaking in his arms. Luke turned to the side, kissing her cheek gently. He rocked her side to side, allowing her all the time she needed to cry herself out. 

She didn’t stay there for long, sniffing and pulling back to look at him. Her eyes were reddened and puffy, but full of confusion. 

“You still trust me?” She asked, her voice smaller than he had ever heard it. 

“Of course I do,” Luke said quietly, reaching to place a gentle hand on her shoulder. 

Leia shoved his arm away, shooting to her feet with a surprising strength. She swayed a little on the ground, but ultimately remained upright. Luke wanted to stop her from pacing, but she was clearly on a roll here. 

“How?” She demanded, her voice rising. “I’m literally the child of evil! I share genetics with the asshole who did  _ that _ to you.” She stepped forward, her hand ghosting over the darkening bruises on his neck, in the perfect shape of a hand. He flinched at the reminder, looking away. He hadn’t seen them yet, but he couldn’t imagine they looked well. Unable to think about that pain quite yet, he turned to face her, hanging his feet off the edge of the bed as he watched her pace. 

“Leia, I don’t judge people by their family,” he told her. “There’s plenty of people here who have family or friends in the Empire, but they make their own choices. You’ve chosen to help us time and time again.”

Leia always chose liberty and justice. It was one of the things that Luke admired most about her, the adamant stubbornness with which she clung to her beliefs, unwilling to let anyone budge her. She was the strongest person he knew, not because she was a Jedi. 

“It’s more than that, Luke,” she said miserably, running her hands through her hair. The braid was nonexistent at this point. It had been pulled apart so much to the point where her hair was basically just loose down her back, albeit with a few knots as remnants of the braid tied in. “I look at him, and I see me.” She pressed a hand against her chest, pain crossing her face. “He’s just burning with anger and hate, and it’s  _ just like me _ . I wanted to scream and rip every bit of machinery from his body.” She stopped, slowly turning to face Luke, her eyes on the ground as they filled with understanding. “I could become just like him.” 

It would be all too easy. A little more loss could put her right over the edge. How little would it take to turn her into a Sith Lord? All her rage, it would channel so easily into the dark side. No wonder Yoda had been so concerned about her; she was a powder keg one tiny spark away from blowing apart the galaxy. 

“Hey!” Luke said, much more sharply that she was accustomed to. He was suddenly right in front of her, grabbing her biceps firmly. His blazing eyes were locked on hers, full of determination. “Don’t torture yourself with this. Vader  _ chose _ the dark side, he  _ chose _ to enslave the galaxy. I have never seen you choose something that questionable.” He sighed, his eyes softening a bit. “Yes, you have anger inside you. But it drives you to help people, to protect people. Maybe you share some genetics with Vader. But you’re not him. You’re Leia, the first of the new Jedi.” 

He could see that image as clear as day: Leia, a Jedi Master, leading the next generation of Jedi into the world, bringing justice wherever they went. 

“As long as you choose it, you’re not turning to the dark side,” he told her gently. 

Leia watched him, silent and wide eyed as he spoke. She leaned into his words, committing each one to memory. He could see them absorb into her mind, easing some of the tensions and fears that had been plaguing her. Perhaps not all her apprehensions about her future were gone, but they were certainly better. After a moment, she pulled him into a tight hug, wrapping her arms firmly around his neck and holding him close. He ran his hands up and down her back, letting her breathe and calm down for a few minutes. 

“Thanks, Luke,” she whispered. “I love you.”

Unbidden, the image of Han flickered behind Luke’s eyes, orange light washed over his face as he was lowered into the ground. 

“I know,” he replied, a sad smile crossing his face. “And hey, if you want to become an Organa instead, I’d be happy to adopt you.” 

The words finally got her to laugh. It was a little watery, but genuine and happy. She was with her real family now. Although they’d only known one another a few years, Luke was more her family than Vader could ever be, no matter how much blood they shared. 

  
  


After that, Leia was finally able to sleep, the tensions and fears relaxing from her face as she drifted into a long, well-needed sleep. Luke could only hope that it was dreamless, and she would simply be able to rest. She needed it. 

He pulled the blankets up to her shoulders, fussing over her for a few minutes. He was stalling. Mon Mothma had sent him a message, telling him to update her as soon as he was finished tending to Leia. He didn’t want to have to explain everything.

Although Leia had not specifically asked, he knew that they would have to keep her parenthood a secret. It would be safest for her. Perhaps, on some level, she wanted people to know, because she felt she deserved the hate that she would receive as a result. Her self loathing was higher than Luke had ever seen it, and he wouldn’t let her destroy herself giving into it. No, he would carry this to his grave. 

He left the private room, a part of his mind focused on Leia’s signature in the Force, so he would know the moment she woke up. It was becoming easier and easier to find her in the Force, to connect to her. Something just inexplicably drew them together. He uneasily wondered if it had something to do with her parentage. 

Outside, he found Chewie, Lando, and the droids. They all looked to him as soon as the doors hissed shut behind him, worry in their eyes. The prince had all but quarantined himself with his friend for two hours, the doors firmly locked against everyone, even his closest friends and the highest ranking officials. It was quite abnormal; he was usually quite friendly with everyone. He smiled shakily, folding his hands together tightly behind his back. So many emotions were running high inside him right now, but he had to keep that to himself. 

After the doors closed behind him, Luke turned to Chewie and threw his arms around the Wookiee, hugging him tightly. For a moment, he just needed some comfort. After all, in a day’s time, he had lost Han, found his best friend broken, and discovered a nauseating truth about her past. They embraced for a long moment, warm and safe together. Close friends who had lost someone they loved. When Luke pulled away, he smiled up at his friend. There was always someone that he could rely on.

“What’s the plan, your highness?” Lando asked, drawing Luke’s gaze his way. Luke thought for a moment, his mind racing. 

Obviously they needed to save Han. That much was quite obvious. It would be difficult to explain to the High Council, but he was willing to take that chance. Perhaps Mon would understand. If not, he could stand his ground. After all, he could probably manage this kind of mission with a small crew. He had planned infiltrations of plenty of places using a small, specialized team. He had strategized plans that brought down Imperial Cruisers. Jabba the Hutt didn’t stand a chance against him.

“I need to stay with the Rebellion until we have a clear plan to get Han out,” he said, his mind already considering their options. He had a duty to the Rebellion, to finish what his parents had started. “I’ll need you to go to Tatooine, gather what intelligence you can about Jabba and Han.” 

Chewie barked a reminder that Leia knew Tatooine, that she might be able to help them. Luke nodded thoughtfully, but worry tugged at the back of his mind. Was she in the best shape for a recon mission back on her home planet? 

“Once she’s awake, you can speak with her,” he decided. “She can tell you everything she knows, but I don’t want her out in the field just yet. She just lost a hand.” 

Chewie looked doubtful, but he didn’t argue. Lando didn’t know Leia well enough to realize that losing a hand wouldn’t stop her from running into a fight even if she didn’t get a cybernetic hand, so he didn’t argue either. 

Looking at their small crew, Luke felt a rush of warm confidence, faith in his people. They could get Han back. Everyone here had proven their loyalty and skills, some many times over. Lando, he was just beginning to trust, but he figured that the man had earned a place in their ranks. 

“Chewie,” he asked gently, turning to the Wookiee. “Leia will want a friend in there with her when she wakes up. Can you stay, keep an eye on her?” 

Chewbacca nodded, rumbling softly. He moved inside the doors, taking a seat near the bed. He was the perfect hospital companion. He was warm, fuzzy, loving, but also strong and mildly terrifying to anyone who didn’t know him. Still, a few more guards couldn’t hurt. 

“Artoo, nobody except for Chewie and Onebee go in that room,” he ordered. “Anyone else tries, zap them. They give you trouble, send them to me.” 

[This is the best assignment you’ve ever given me,] Artoo responded immediately. He had been trying to get Luke to give him permission to zap people for years, although the prince’s disapproval had never really stopped him. 

“Threepio, you should probably get a systems check,” he admitted, looking at the droid. He had been haphazardly put together as a second thought all throughout their dangerous situations. There had to be a few loose wires in there. 

“Thank you very much, your highness,” the droid said gratefully, waddling off. Luke turned to Lando, a warm smile on his face. 

“Walk with me?” 

Lando smiled, offering Luke his arm. Luke took it, and they headed down the long white halls, secure in the knowledge that Chewie and Artoo were protecting Leia. 

“I want you to know that I haven’t forgotten about Cloud City,” he told the man quietly. “I’m very sorry that it was lost in this conflict.” 

Losing a home to the Empire was something that Luke was all too familiar with. It had been brave, and very likely painful, for Lando to risk while getting them out.

“Once the Empire arrived, there was no saving them,” Lando replied. His eyes were sad, perhaps recalling the friends and life that he had lost when he abandoned the city. It was clear that he had earned the loyalty of the people, and it had to be heartbreaking to lose it. 

“We will help free them,” Luke promised, laying his other hand on Lando’s arm. “I will speak to the council, make sure of it.” 

“I’ll help you get Han back first,” he offered. It hurt him to sacrifice his friend, and the memory of Han’s agonized face, frozen in carbonite, weighed heavily on his heart. 

Luke smiled warmly up at him, his eyes full of a sincere appreciation. “Thank you. I’m grateful for your help.” 

They looked at one another for a long moment. A bond had formed between the two men. It could have easily existed, with or without a love of Han bringing them together. They shared a political skill, the leadership of their people, a fierce dedication to protect their own. Although they had caused one another much suffering, Luke bringing the Empire to Bespin and Lando delivering them to Vader, the seeds of friendship had already begun to grow between them. 

“I’ll go check the  _ Falcon _ ,” Lando said, releasing Luke’s arm. “That way, we can leave for Tatooine as soon as possible.”

Luke nodded, watching him go. He abruptly realized that the man was wearing a cape, although he hadn’t had one when they left Bespin. As he looked more closely, he realized that it was one of his own, a lovely blue thing that he used to wear to Senate meetings. Wry amusement crossed his face, and he shook his head ruefully. Add that to the reason for their friendship: shared fashion taste. 

On that note, he found his quarters rather quickly, intent on changing out of this worn snow uniform before facing Mon Mothma. He had ignored quite a few high ranking people while escorting Leia to the hospital wing, and pushed them away further hiding away with her. It would not win him many points. 

When he arrived inside, one look at the mirror made him dizzy with nausea. The bruises on his throat had darkened to purple and red, to the point where it was impossible to ignore. He almost admired everyone’s ability to avoid looking at it so far. Leia was the only one who had pointed it out. He looked away, searching his things for a shirt that would cover his neck, prevent anyone from seeing it. The Rebellion did not need to see their prince appearing weak. 

He donned a silver and blue suit, a soft blue cloak draped over one shoulder. It was a classic Alderaanian style. The reassuring weight was like his father’s hand on his shoulder, warm and supportive. Looking in the mirror, he could almost see Bail Organa standing there, smiling approvingly at him, just the way that he had while leaving on his first mission for the Rebellion. A familiar ache of longing tugged at his stomach. He took a deep breath, allowing the familiar grief to fade. 

He found Mon Mothma in her office, skimming through reports on a datapad. She glanced up as he entered, nodding politely. Although they had known one another for years, they could still don the familiar politician mask as a way to remain cool and professional. She had always been an expert, but Luke’s ability to stay calm on the surface had grown in the past few years of leadership within the Rebellion. 

“Prince Luke,” she said, her enchantingly smooth voice immediately calming. “I trust that Commander Skywalker has been taken care of?”

“She is currently resting,” he replied easily, allowing the soothing voice and carefully controlled manner to take over. “She was very injured while fighting Vader. I would advise she not have any visitors for the time being.” 

Mon nodded, a touch of understanding in her eyes. But she was still the leader of the Rebellion, and she had bigger priorities than the suffering of one pilot. 

“Perhaps you can explain the events of Bespin in her absence?” She was always so damned good at that, being calm and understanding but able to twist the conversation to her needs. Her political skill was to be envied. Luke wished he could smoothly manipulate a conversation the way he had seen her do in the Senate time and time again. 

Luke took a deep breath. He had been expecting this. But luckily, he prepared for it. 

“I assume Chewbacca has filled you in on our capture and escape, with Lando’s help,” he replied. He wanted to be sure that Lando was trusted and given his due credit for helping them; they wouldn’t have escaped otherwise. 

“Yes, he has turned in a full report.” Mon’s tone was mild, but she arched an eyebrow, holding his gaze. It was a politely scathing reminder that he had been avoiding his duty by hiding away with Leia. He flushed, but didn’t look away. 

“Is there anything you need to know immediately?” He asked, tilting his head to the side. There was a subtle tension in the room, simmering beneath frozen masks of politeness. Mon hadn’t asked him to take a seat; he knew she was at least a little miffed that he hadn’t put his duty before his friend. 

“Why was Vader after Skywalker?” She asked, her eyes flicking to the doors behind him. 

Luke knew that question was coming. The last person that the dark lord had been so fixated on was Luke himself, because the prince had been the one to escape while carrying the plans. But it was clear that he always wanted to kill Luke on sight, for personal grudge at the very least. Chewbacca and Lando had noticed that he hadn’t wanted to kill Leia, but capture her for a later purpose. 

Luckily, Luke had already decided on a foolproof cover story. 

“I thought that was obvious,” he said innocently, allowing some confusion to cross his face. He buried his true feelings deep inside him, masking them with the Force. “He must have found out that Leia is the one who destroyed the Death Star. The Empire would want to make a public example of her.” 

He was relieved when Mon nodded. Perhaps that was her original assumption as well. Thank the Force. 

“There have been rumors that the bounty hunter Boba Fett was trying to find the name of the pilot,” she told them, weaving her fingers together, her elbows resting delicately on the desk. In many ways, it made perfect sense. Once Fett discovered Leia’s full name, Darth Vader had to have realized who she was. “Lando Calrissian reported that he was on Cloud City with the Empire.” 

“Yes, he was the one to take Han,” Luke confirmed, nodding. He hesitated for a moment, but threw his shoulders back. “I’m currently organizing a team to retrieve him from Jabba the Hutt.” 

“Han was leaving the Rebellion, was he not?” Mon asked, tilting her head slightly. “It would seem that we have no reason to go after him.”

“We take care of our people,” Luke said sharply, his eyes flashing. That was why the Rebellion had been made, to protect people like themselves. Just because the Hutts weren’t the Empire didn’t mean that they weren’t worth the Rebellion’s attention. 

“He made his choice.” 

“And I’m making my own,” Luke decided, raising his chin stubbornly. Yes, Mon was the leader of the Rebellion, but she was also basically his aunt. He had grown up alongside her, and had defied her many times as a petulant child. He would defy her again, to protect Han. “I’m not asking for the support of the Alliance. I’ll do this myself.” 

He had planned thousands of attacks and relief missions across the galaxy. He had helped take down Imperial Cruisers and the dreaded Death Star. Leia knew how the Hutts worked, she could help plan. As for the small numbers, he had worked with specialized teams in the past. Jabba the Hutt couldn’t keep the man he loved from him. 

Mon sighed, looking like she would rather deal with the entirety of the Senate rather than a stubborn but high ranking prince. The boy had grown, but he hadn’t changed. 

“I suppose I cannot stop you,” she sighed. She stood from the desk, moving around it to approach him. Her robes fluttered softly as she moved. She cupped Luke’s cheek gently, looking at him with fond exasperation. He was so much like all his parents, and so different. “You have rebellion in your blood, little one.”

Luke leaned into her hand, smiling up at her. Fondness warmed his heart. On some level, he suspected that she wasn’t upset in the least. She had always respected when he got away with breaking rules as a child, smugly reciting rules and the loopholes he managed to find. 

“But news is starting to trickle in,” she warned him, her voice lowered and eyes somewhat serious. “At the next High Alliance meeting, I will need you there.” 

“I promise,” Luke said seriously, taking her hands firmly. He earnestly looked into her eyes. The Rebellion was his whole life, and he would never forsake his duty to it. “I’ll help finish what my parents began.” 

Mon smiled, nodding firmly and pulling back. 

“I will need that report, and soon,” she reminded him. He smiled, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. She was still the leader of the Rebellion, after all. 

“I’ll work on it right away, Mon,” he promised, nodding. He began to step back, but she stopped him, waving him closer to the desk.

“Write it up on this,” she instructed, handing him a datapad. “There are a few other reports on there, from our Bothan spies.” The work of a Rebellion leader was never finished. 

Luke frowned down at the datapad, tapping on it and skimming through the names listed. Bothan spies were the best, and Mon clearly thought it was important if she was telling him to read it now. He nodded, turning to leave. 

“I’d like to see Commander Skywalker as soon as she is able,” Mon reminded him as he left. She cared about the girl, both as a friend and a valuable member of the Rebellion. She also suspected that the prince wasn’t telling her everything. He would only do that if he was protecting someone that he loved. That was the thing about Luke: he fought for the people he loved. He fought for the Rebellion in the name of his lost family and planet, he disobeyed her for Han, and he would hide information from the organization he lived for in order to protect Leia. Unfortunately, despite the fact that it was open defiance, Mon couldn’t find it within herself to truly reprimand him for it. After all, the boy had lost so much. It was only natural that he cling to the people he had left. 

  
  


Leia, to her delight, woke up with a cybernetic hand already attached to one limb and a very clingy Wookiee attached to the other. 

“Chewie!” She said, warm delight and the fuzzy, thoughtlessness of sleep making it easy to ignore the problems on her mind and just hug her friend. 

He roared, pulling her into a tight hug and barking all his worries at her, how concerned he had been, how glad he was that she was safe, how proud he was that she had faced Vader. She laughed, burying her face in the fur of his torso. It was always easier to ignore your troubles when you were hugging a Wookiee. 

“I’m glad you’re safe too,” she replied, smiling up at him. She had worried about her friend. She pulled away, looking around the room. That was odd. Where was Han? 

The doors opened, and her eyes shot to the door, but only Luke entered, carrying two cups. He had changed, now looking much more like the formal prince that she was used to. But Han was still missing. 

Her eyes met his, her mouth opening to ask the question, but Onebee, standing beside her, interjected first. 

“Hold out your arm,” he instructed, extending a thin needle on the end of his arm. Her focus was pulled that way, and she extended her hand for him to finish working on the cybernetics from where she had yanked it away to hug Chewie upon waking up. 

Luke breathed a sigh of relief. He had known exactly what Leia was going to ask when she turned to him, and he wasn’t prepared to answer that question. He didn’t want her to blame herself for not making it in time to save Han. 

He approached the side of the examination bed, offering Chewie the larger cup of caf. Everyone seemed to love the drink except for him, so he occasionally picked some up for them. Leia practically lived off the stuff while they were on Hoth. 

Onebee closed up the cybernetic hand, and Leia watched, mildly fascinated. The hand itself looked completely normal; it even matched her skin tone. The only sign that something wasn’t all normal was the whirring mechanics beneath the metal bracelet that connected it to her actual arm. 

When he pricked at the skin, she flinched at the sharp, but brief pain. Her fingers, cybernetic fingers, twitched as easily as if they were her own. She grinned, lifting it up and closing her hand into a fist, then opening it again. 

Satisfied that she was functional, Onebee made his way out of the exam room, the doors sliding shut behind him. 

“It looks normal,” she commented, still looking at her hand with a grin tugging at the side of her lips. When she thought about cybernetic limbs, they were always obviously machines, usually with attached guns. Maybe that was a Tatooine thing. 

“I wanted to make sure you had the best,” Luke said, smiling warmly. He offered her a cup of caf, which she took gratefully, smiling at him. Leia Skywalker was never a young woman who appreciated being doted on. She could do things herself, dammit. But the fact that Luke always watched over her and took care of her needs without thought made her feel safe, protected. Ironic, since she usually protected him during battles, but it was nice. 

“I love you,” she said as a way of thanks, taking a long drink of the caf. She could even feel the warmth of the cup with her cybernetic hand. Incredible. 

The caf bought him a moment of quiet before she looked around again, her brown eyes scanning the room for their missing person, the one who would be teasing her endlessly about being part droid, and asking her if she was going to hang out with Threepio more often. The room was too quiet, too empty. Slowly, she lowered the cup, looking at Luke with a dawning horror in her eyes. 

“Where’s Han?” 

Luke bit his lip, turning away with sadness in his eyes. Fear immediately dropped Leia’s stomach. Chewie wouldn’t meet her searching gaze either, just moaning quietly and sitting down in a nearby chair. As she watched them, a memory flashed behind her eyes. Han, frozen in something cold and grey, being escorted away. 

“What happened to Han?” She demanded, but the words were less of an order and more of a desperate plea, a hope that she hadn’t lost one of her closest friends. 

Luke tried to discreetly dab the tears from his eyes before looking up at her, but she noticed. He opened and closed his mouth for a moment, struggling to say the right thing. 

“Han was- Vader had him frozen in carbonite,” he said carefully, folding his arms across his stomach and looking at the wall behind them. “He’s alive, but Fett took him to Jabba the Hutt.” 

“Jabba?” Leia gasped, open horror breaking across her face. She had grown up dealing with Java’s thugs; they practically ruled Tatooine. He was a powerful crime leader who had been after Han for ages. “I thought he was going to pay him off?” 

Chewie quietly explained that they never made it. Leia ran her fingers through her hair, groaning and finally resting her face in her hands. Thankfully, the bacta patches had healed her up, so it didn’t hurt too much. It would be difficult to get Han back. Jabba did  _ not  _ like giving up his prizes. 

“I was hoping that you could tell Chewie everything you know,” Luke suggested gently, touching her shoulder. “So we could work out a plan to get him back.” 

She took a deep breath, nodding and lifting up her head. Chewie and Luke pretended not to notice the tears clinging to her eyelashes, currently the only sign of her frustration and helplessness with the situation. It would make her feel better to actually give them usable information. 

While she launched into a long, extensive explanation of everything she knew about the Hutts, Luke took a seat on the side of the room, near the window. They were alongside a beautiful, dense galaxy. It swirled and glittered against the darkness of space, a welcome sight after all their time in vast emptiness. 

He typed up his report, making a mental note to tell Leia their cover story before she tried to tell someone else on base who her father was. He didn’t want anyone using that against her, especially since she was such a well known and widely admired hero. After the Death Star, she had become one of the most important people to the Rebellion. He wouldn’t let her lose that. 

He was so absorbed in his work that he didn’t notice someone holding out a cup to him. He blinked, glancing up to see Lando standing beside him, smiling. 

“What’s this?” He asked, taking the cup and breathing in the aroma. It wasn’t caf, but it smelled amazing. 

“It’s called hot chocolate,” Lando explained, taking a sip of his own drink. “A Cloud City favorite.” 

Luke took a hesitant sip, but his eyes immediately went wide with awe, a smile crossing his face. It was  _ delicious _ ! Warm, sweet, perfect for the chill of space. He took a longer drink, his eyes closing as he relished the taste. 

“That’s amazing,” he said, smiling up at Lando. “Thank you.” 

“I thought you might like it.” Lando patted his shoulder before moving over to where Leia and Chewie were deep in conversation. He joined easily, despite Leia not knowing him well. Ideas grew into plans, everyone contributing their own knowledge. 

Sitting on the sidelines, Luke felt an ache strike through his heart. Although it was lovely to see them all getting along and working together, an abrupt loneliness crashed over him. If Han was here, he would have forcibly dragged Luke into the conversation, teasing him or throwing an arm around his shoulders. The memory of his face, warm and full of love as he was lowered into the floor, flashed behind his eyes. He fought back tears, taking a deep, shuddering breath. 

He missed Han. The smuggler had been by his side, almost nonstop, for three years. He had come to rely on that warm teasing and annoyed support, the way that he brightened the atmosphere of a room. It felt a little darker, a little sadder without him there. There were empty spaces in conversations where his dry humor used to make everyone smile. 

The Rebellion was going to be a lot colder without him there. 

His eyes burning with unshed tears, Luke looked out the window. He gazed out into the darkness of space, as if he could find Boba Fett’s ship in the endless emptiness. 

_ I’ll save you, my love _ , he thought sadly, wishing that he could hold Han in his arms and never let him go. 

Leia paused in the conversation, feeling a sudden wave of sadness through the Force. She leaned around Chewie to see Luke staring out the window, his lips pressed together in the way she recognized. He was trying to keep from crying. 

With as much as she had suffered, she had forgotten that Luke lost the man that he loved as well. He had deflected the attention over it so easily, shifting the conversation to plans for saving him. It was clear that he didn’t want any further burden on her. While she adored him for that, she loved him. She wanted to be there for him too. 

“My people did make the repairs you needed, but you should look her over and make sure everything’s where it should be,” Lando was telling Chewbacca. He knew how particular Han could be about his ship. 

Chewie agreed, and they began to move away before Leia grabbed his arm. 

“Hey, before you go, can you bring another bed in here?” She asked softly, her eyes flicking to Luke. 

Everyone stole a subtle glance at the prince, who was thankfully too absorbed in writing his report to notice that they were staring. Just a hint of bruising peeked out from beneath his collar, dark and painful. Although his posture was perfect, it was touched with weariness. It had been a long, painful day for him. Perhaps more than some of the others, but he would never admit that. 

Chewie, well aware of how the friends slept better when they were together, nodded in agreement. He went off in search of another bed. 

Lando remained beside Leia for a moment, glancing between the two of them. He had thought that Han and Luke seemed close, but the bond between these two was on a whole other level. The way that Luke had randomly known where she was, the weird way she sensed him needing to sleep in the same room as her. It was like they were separated at birth or some nonsense like that. 

“What’s the deal with you two?” He asked, raising an eyebrow. “Are you related or something?” 

Leia snorted, shaking her head. “No, but he’s my closest friend in the galaxy.” 

“Evidently,” Lando agreed, glancing over at him. “He must’ve put a tracker on you or something, he knew exactly where to find you.”

Leia blinked up at him, surprised. This was the first she was hearing of that. Luke had found her that easily? In the moment, she had been too relieved that he found her to think about the logistics of the whole thing. She knew damn well that he didn’t have a tracker on her, and if he did, she would have to kick his ass, so how did he manage to go after her? 

Was Luke Force-sensitive? He had never brought it up to her, never mentioned anything about being able to feel where she was. She had talked about being a Jedi many times, and he never asked to be trained alongside her. She turned a pondering gaze to Luke, wondering what else he had been keeping bottled up. 

The thoughtful silence lasted until Chewie rolled the extra bed inside, growing triumphantly. The sound make Luke finally look up from his datapad, blinking at the bed as Chewie rolled it right alongside Leia’s. 

The Wookiee, with his true parental side coming out, easily scooped the prince from his chair and carried him bridal style to the bed. 

“Wait Chewie, I haven’t finished reading through the reports!” He protested, wiggling uselessly in his grip. There was really no point in fighting a Wookiee who had decided it was bedtime. 

Chewbacca informed him that he wouldn’t be reading any more reports tonight, that they had been working far too long and needed some rest. 

“But we need to plan!” Luke argued weakly, but he knew that this wasn’t going to work. Chewbacca gently eased him into the bed and plucked the datapad from his hands, setting it aside. The prince pouted, frowning up at his friend. He knew better than to continue to argue, but was clearly not happy about his work being interrupted. 

“We have a plan, your highness,” Lando told him, grinning. “But we all need some rest before we run off to Tatooine.”

Luke grumbled, eyeballing his datapad from where Chewie had put it out of reach. He crossed his arms, slouching in the bed. A smirk tugged at Lando’s lips. The prince had looked so regal while taking Leia to the medical wing, and now he looked like a pouting toddler. It was easy to see why Han had fallen for him. 

“Make sure Artoo stands guard,” he insisted, gesturing to the door. He wouldn’t be able to get any sleep if they didn’t have someone that he trusted guarding the door. 

Chewbacca ordered them to get some sleep as he walked out. The lights flicked off, leaving the galaxy outside the window as the only source of light, washing a pale glow over the room. They were quiet for a moment, both lost in their own thoughts. The reports from the Bothans were occupying Luke’s mind, and Luke’s potential Force-sensitivity was occupying Leia’s. 

“How did you find me?” She finally asked, pulling her knees to her chest and looking over at him. The idea that Luke was like her, perhaps even had a similar connection to the Force, was almost as dizzying as the fact that Vader was her father, except in a slightly less nauseating way. 

“Hm?” Luke, who had been thinking about the new project that the Bothans had reported hearing about, was taken completely off guard by the question. In all honesty, he hadn’t really processed it. “When?”

“On Cloud City,” she said. “You found me hanging from a weather vane. How did you know I was there?” 

Luke hesitated. He didn’t like talking about his connection to the Force. It hadn’t helped him very much, in the long run. He had felt the pain of his home planet blowing apart, a sensation that haunted his nightmares. Admittedly, it had helped him avoid telling Vader the truth about his base, but he should have been able to do that on his own, without the help of some dumb mythical Force. Honestly, the only good thing that it had done was help him find Leia. He conveniently forgot the instinctive way that he retreated into the Force sometimes, because it helped calm him. 

“I looked into the Force,” he admitted, eyes down. “It was pretty easy to find you there.” 

He knew Leia like the back of his hand. Her signature in the Force was easy to find, since they were so close. It had always been easy for him to reach into that sort of thing, but he didn’t like to do it often. After all, he was busy being a Rebellion leader. He could leave all the Jedi nonsense to someone who was equipped to handle it, like Leia. 

Leia pushed herself up to her knees, turning to look at him with wide eyes. Excitement surged through her. Luke was just like her! He could use the Force. She could teach him how to use it, help him become a Jedi. 

“Why didn’t you tell me?” She asked, a touch of hurt in her eyes. She thought he trusted her. Hadn’t he made a point to make sure she knew it? 

Luke turned to the side, crossing his legs and facing her. His fingers wove together, fidgeting uncomfortably. 

“Look, Leia,” he began quietly. “This kind of thing is more your speed than mine. I’m better at the logistical aspect, attack strategy and aid missions. You’re the Jedi.” 

“But you have the same power,” Leia pressed, leaning over and gently touching his hand. Luke didn’t have nearly any of the self confidence that she did, despite growing up as royalty. “Luke, I’ve never been able to feel things in the Force that easily. Maybe you’re meant to be a Jedi too.” Leia was never good at the weird spiritual parts of being a Jedi. When given the opportunity, she would much rather use her lightsaber than anything else. Maybe Luke would be better at that part. 

Luke immediately shook his head. “No, Leia, you’re the one with the power.”

“You have that power too, Luke.” 

How could he not see it? Luke was the strongest person that she knew, but he never saw it. He put on a brave face for the Rebellion because he knew how important it was for everyone to see him as a strong prince, when in reality he never saw himself as anything close to brave. All that he suffered hadn’t left him cold or cruel. If anything, he was kinder as a result. She took both his hands in her own, squeezing them gently. 

“Luke, you’re stronger than anyone I know,” she told him, her eyes shining with pride in her friend. “You would be an amazing Jedi. You can already use the Force, even without training. Imagine if you met Yoda.” She had a feeling that the froggie would like her best friend. He was certainly less inclined towards the dark side than she was. 

If Luke hadn’t mostly cried himself out today, he would have teared up at those words. How did Leia have so little faith in herself but so much in him? She had seen all his weaknesses, but she still thought he would make a good Jedi. He took a long breath, squeezing her hands gently. Beneath her synthetic one, he could feel the cool mechanics allowing it to move. A little disconcerting, but he didn’t let it put him off. 

“Someday, maybe,” he told her. Honestly, he wasn’t ready to consider the Jedi path. It seemed a little daunting. “Right now, my duty is to the Rebellion. I need to finish what my father started.” Leia nodded; she understood wanting to make a father proud. A sharp pang went through her heart at the memory of who she thought Anakin Skywalker was, but she pushed it away, focusing on Luke’s words as he looked earnestly into her eyes. “It’s your density to be a Jedi, not mine. After all this is over, I’ll be happy to be your apprentice. But not yet.” 

Leia couldn’t argue with that. Luke was meant for the politics and planning far more than she was. She couldn’t imagine trying to keep her cool and resist her impulses the way that he could. It was a level of self control that she had yet to master. 

“Okay,” she agreed quietly, smiling at him. A warmth glowed in the Force between them, an outpouring of love and happiness from the pair that mixed together and became even stronger. Although they didn’t fully realize it, a Force bond was beginning to take shape between them, sparked from friendship and grown by their interactions with one another within it. 

When Lando came in with caf and breakfast rations the next morning, he could them both sound asleep, dead to the world. The hospital beds were narrow, but shoved close together. Luke was on his back, the concerned lines smoothed from his face by sleep. He looked younger that way, softer. Lando could hardly believe that the boy was one of the most important leaders of the Rebellion. Leia was sprawled on her stomach, mouth agape in sleep. Even in sleep, they held hands, each clinging to the other as a constant reassurance that they were together. 

  
  


“Leia, we’re ready for takeoff,” Lando said into the comlink. He and Chewie were sitting in the  _ Falcon _ , flipping switches as they prepped the ship for the trip. They had packed rations, money, fuel, everything they could possibly need. 

“Good luck, guys,” Leia said into her comlink. They had gotten personal comms, which would allow them to communicate with one another from even across the galaxy. She was impatiently allowing Onebee to do a final check of her prosthetic hand, irritated with having to stay in the hospital wing still. But Luke had insisted, and she couldn’t say no. He stood by her bed, his eyes on the window and the dark galaxy beyond. 

“When we find Jabba the Hutt and that bounty hunter, we’ll contact you,” Lando said. The two of them were going to get as much intel as they could before bringing Luke and Leia to the planet. After all, she had Jedi training to finish and he couldn’t leave the Rebellion for very long. 

“I’ll meet you at the rendezvous point on Tatooine,” Leia told him. She was planning on going back anyways, in hopes of searching out Ben’s old house and finding whatever knowledge she could manage about the Jedi. After all, she would be needing a new lightsaber. 

“Prince Luke,” Lando said, drawing his gaze to the comlink. “We’ll find Han. I promise.”

Luke smiled, a warm fondness in his eyes. “Thank you.” 

“Chewie, I’ll be waiting for your signal,” Leia called, and received a roar of affirmation in response. 

“Good luck, you two,” Luke said, stepping closer to the bed and the comlink. “May the Force be with you.” 

With that, they signed off. Luke stepped over to the window to see them off. Threepio and Artoo, who had both been repaired and were in much better shape, were by the window as well. Leia impatiently tugged her hand from Onebee, officially done with his fussing over her hand. It worked just fine. She walked over to join Luke, standing beside him. He took her hand, weaving their fingers together firmly. It gave them both strength. 

The  _ Millennium Falcon _ rose before them outside the window, spinning away from  _ Home One _ and turning beyond the small galaxy. The engines flared a brilliant white, and soon the light was all they could see as it disappeared into the stars, swallowed by the darkness of space. 

_ We’ll save him, _ Leia told Luke. She didn’t have to open her mouth, or even look at him. It was the most natural thing in the world, projecting her words to him across their Force bond. She could even feel him smile as he squeezed her hand. 

_ Together _ , he replied. She could still feel the sadness aching within him, but there was confidence too, faith that their little team would be able to rescue the man he loved. 

Even through all they suffered, hope still burned inside them. It wasn’t always bright, but it was fed by their friends, became stronger when they were together. The grief of loss was always easier to weather through if you had someone there beside you. Now, no matter how many parsecs separated them, with the strength of their Force bond, Luke and Leia would always have each other. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that is the end of The Empire Strikes Back! Thank you guys for tagging along on this adventure, I hope you liked it!! All your lovely comments made me so happy, you have no idea how often I reread them. 
> 
> Next up, Return of the Jedi! No promises on how soon that'll be out, it's going to be a very busy spring (I just finished the first draft of my novel so that will be taking a lot of my focus), but I promise I'll see this to the end. If you guys do want anything specific featured in the next fic, please let me know! I will try to accommodate. Also, if anyone is interested in chatting about the fic, you can also message me on @princelukeorgana on Tumblr. 
> 
> Happy reading!


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